Post by Moses on Oct 10, 2005 14:40:46 GMT -5
Be Part of Taking Back Our Government and Ending the Unjust War in Iraq
Kevin Zeese Speech at University of Maryland,
September 28, 2005 with Cindy Sheehan video
This Iraq War – based on lies and manipulations – is a defining issue of our times, it has undermined the noble purpose of this great country, it has destroyed our moral compass and it has embarrassed us before the world. The simple truth is staying in Iraq does not make things better it makes things worse. Staying in Iraq does not make us more secure it increases the strength, skills and anger of those who resort to terror tactics to harm Americans. Every day we stay in Iraq we increase the instability of the Middle East. We are bleeding our country of our most precious resource -- our youth -- and squandering a kings ransom from our treasury at time when critical needs are going unmet at home. It is time to get out – rapidly, responsibly, and to begin doing so immediately. We need to bring our troops home now.
But now, the Iraq war is coming home to roost. We just lost an entire American city . . . New Orleans, and too many of its residents died needlessly, or had their lives devastated. Imagine that, an entire American city. And all because of incompetence, greed and stupidity. A deliberate failure by elected officials at all levels from both of the major parties – to address the needs of America, of Americans.
After Katrina Bush complained that critics were making the government's failures “political.” That's right, we intend to make these failures political. Mr Bush, we don't need a President of “the haves and the have mores....” as you have described yourself to your wealthy contributors. To our Senators and Representatives – we don't need elected officials who bless an immoral war and approve the budgets that take money from basic necessities like the levees and flood plains of New Orleans as our bi-partisan Congress does. We intend to remove you and restore a government 'of, by and for' the people of this great nation, not of, by and for special interests – the monied elite who buy elected officials. The biggest threats to our homeland's security - history will prove - are the failures of those in the White House and in Congress.
You know, for an entire year, all Bush could say was, “Attack Iraq! Attack Iraq!” He distorted and manipulated the facts to scare Americans into accepting this illegal and unnecessary war. He talked of a mushroom cloud over Manhattan when he knew the intelligence showed Iraq had no nuclear weapons and no long range bombers. He talked of an attack in 48 hours when he knew Saddam had no capacity to attack even his neighbors – when the airspace of his country was under U.S. control.
And you know the result:
* This is the most corrupt war in U.S. history. We've squandered hundreds of billions of tax dollars, institutionalized corruption in Iraq – so much that Paul Bremer could not account for more than $8 billion dollars when he ran Iraq – while the people of the Gulf Coast fight over a bottle of water. Six audits of Halliburton failed because their records were so poor. Yet, they were the first to get a contract in New Orleans.
* More than 1,900 soldiers killed, some looking for weapons of mass destruction that our government knew did not exist. All sent to an illegal war based on lies, deceptions and manipulations.
* The reputation of the United States dragged through the mud as US soldiers were caught on film engaging in brutal torture of Iraqi civilians at the direction of their superior officers – creating a stain on our reputation that will last for generations.
* A war where tens of thousands of civilians – some reports are as high as 120,000 – Iraqi civilians killed – indeed, 90% of those killed in Iraq are civilians.
Let me say to you – I am an anti-war candidate for the U.S. Senate and I will be in this election until Election Day. You will be able to vote against this war in November, 2006. I urge you to only support anti-war candidates in the primaries and to only support an anti-war candidate on Election Day. This is the defining issue of our times.
This war was pursued by a government incapable of planning even the basic logistics. Soldiers still without adequate armor three years into the war. By this time in World War I – the war was over – and in World War II looking toward D-Day. But in this war, our military is still unable to deal with improvised roadside explosive devices – three years into the war. And at home the same government bungled the evacuation of New Orleans and response to Katrina with deadly results. Americans knew more about people starving and without water in New Orleans than FEMA knew – just by watching the news.
America is wondering – how do we hold them responsible? Isn't the president the Commander in Chief? Doesn't the Congress appropriate the money? How do we FIRE this guy and all those in Congress who think the public treasury is theirs to spend on their pals, who think serving the public interest means wasting our money on THEIR boondoggle projects, who think their positions enable them take the assets from the public trust and transfer the nation's wealth to their business associates and political donors through no-bid contracts, massive corporate welfare and so-called tax reform that merely makes the wealthiest wealthier. The Iraq War is the grandest example of the theft of our treasury.
President Bush is the most impeachable president in history yet not one member of Congress will raise the obvious issue. Do our representatives think that the President is above the law? Or is it because they know they are complicit?
Who's government is this: one that serves only big national and international corporate interests? One whose elected officials convert government assets to their own use and profit, and to that of their friends, associates and campaign contributors – instead of using our scarce tax dollars for the priorities of the people.
Who represents the people in this democracy? Congress? A recent poll asked Americans – Do you feel represented by your elected officials? Only 17 % said yes – in the self-proclaimed greatest democracy on earth 83% feel unrepresented by their elected officials. Does the bi-partisan Congress that votes for more tens of billions for the Iraq occupation when a majority of Americans say they want our military to come home represent our interests? In the Senate not one senator voted with the majority of Americans on this single issue – they all voted to keep funding this immoral war.
We see boondoggles for prescription drug companies, for Halliburton and for Bechtel, for highway lobbies – while tuition goes through the roof, while more and more Americans lose health insurance, more go into poverty and while pensions disappear. We see international trade agreements not designed to create real free trade but designed to protect international corporations – make them more powerful than democratically elected governments – giving corporations the power to overrule labor laws, consumer laws, human rights laws, environmental laws by calling laws 'restraints on trade' – corporate power takes the place of the sovereignty of nations – and both parties vote for these corporate trade agreements. They are selling us out.
John McCain described American politics as a “huge influence peddling scheme where both parties conspire to sell the country to the highest bidder.” He was right and it's time for us to take our country back from the monied elite – from sea to shining sea – this is supposed to be your land.
This is supposed to be YOUR government not THEIR government. They ignored us when millions of Americans were in the street before the invasion of Iraq. Despite all of our predictions of a failed and costly quagmire coming true – Bush still refuses to listen – indeed he fled DC during the demonstrations this weekend.
The stealing of your government and its assets – your money and your natural resources – and giving them to the wealthy, is a bi-partisan affair – the leaders of both major political parties are complicit.....Who passed WTO? Who passed NAFTA? Who voted for the Patriot Act? Who refused to implement the Kyoto agreement? Who voted to give Bush the power to send US troops to Iraq, approving his actions instead of raising questions and objections? Who's for war, who's for peace and who's kids are fighting in Iraq? It's NOT the children of Mr. Bush. Not the children of those in Congress.
Who will represent us!? Who will halt the increase in the temperatures of our oceans? Shall we wait until Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York are under water? Look what category 4 hurricanes did in the Gulf now, when its waters are only one degree warmer. What happens - as the experts say will happen – when climate change causes the temperatures increase 2, 3 degrees? Category 10 hurricanes? There will be no human power able to handle the adverse effects of global climate change -- caused by the likes of Bush and a bi-partisan Congress not facing reality.
Bush keeps writing the checks that a bi-partisan Congress gives him – creating a mountain of debt – a tax on you, your children and your children's children. If the huge deficits caused by this government are not paid for, and soon, there will be a recession in this country the likes of which we have not seen in decades.
Let me finish with one essential question – How do we transform politics in America? We know our elected representatives are failing us – morally, spiritually, economically and in their callous disregard for our fellow humans and our planet earth – they are taking us on the wrong path – we know that – how do we change that direction?
We must engage in the political process – it matters who is elected. It is time for people to stand up now and participate. There has never been a more critical time in my lifetime than now. We need people willing to run for office – to work on campaigns – to volunteer – to fund and fundraise.
I've worked for 30 years as an advocate for positive change – ending the war on drugs, ensuring our votes are counted on machines with a paper record, protecting civil liberties and seeking peace – and one lesson I've learned is that you can have the facts on your side, have common sense on your side, have justice on your side – even have a majority of Americans on your side and still – our elected representatives will ignore you and put special interests first. Now is the time to challenge them in their power – to threaten to take away their power – the only place to do that is in the electoral arena.
This is not new news – this is an old reality. As Frederick Douglas said: “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” We must challenge those in power and not be disheartened by their opposition for, as Douglas also said: “The resistance encountered now predicates hope . . . only as we rise . . . do we encounter opposition.”
We can take back our government. We can change the direction of our country. It does not have to be this way. To each of these problems there are solutions. We don't have to engage in illegal wars – we can break our addiction to oil removing the cause of many wars, so many environmental problems. We can obey international law and only attack other countries when we are truly threatened. We do not have to spend as much on the military as the whole world combined! We do not have to have troops in 130 countries on 700 military bases outside the United States – resulting in the military industrial complex taking half the discretionary domestic spending.
Money can go to peoples needs – rather than the military industrial complex, gigantic corporations and the monied elite.
And, there are solutions being put in place by many people in Maryland. As part of my campaign I will be doing a “Solutions Tour” that will highlight a variety of issues including how to break our addiction to oil: green buildings, wind farms, a business in Frederick that is turning beet pulp into fuel. I hope you will join me on these tours – sign up with people volunteering with my campaign. We need you to show Maryland – to show America that people can make a difference.
In the end the first step toward changing American politics is understanding – you can make a difference. Everyone of us can have a positive impact on the world. You'll be hearing from someone in a few minutes, Cindy Sheehan, who showed how one person can make a difference. We can take our government back, we can end this illegal and immoral war in Iraq, we can make this a government that we believe in and that is truly 'of, by and for' the people. All that is required to convince people to vote for what they want – don't vote out of fear, vote out of hope. Don't vote out of habit – vote out of the self respect to know that you deserve representatives who represent your interests.
To get this message out we need you – we need you to get involved. Working together and openly charting an explicitly new political course we can establish an extraordinary future – a new direction for politics in America. We will make history in Maryland and when we do you will be able to say – not only that you were here when it started but that you helped make it happen – that you were part of Americans taking back their government and ending an unjust war.