How about this instead?
"I supported our fighting men and women, like any good American, but the President -- outrageously! -- deceived us patriotic citizens. Don't get me wrong -- I stand by my earlier support of the war -- we did Iraqis a big favor getting rid of Saddam. Our job is done. Well done. Getting overdone, in fact. Iraqis evidently don't want us there any more -- they are shooting at our men and women! -- and they want to run their country themselves. Our troops want to go home -- and they are saying so on TV! -- and their families are getting anxious and even angry. Every day, one American soldier dies in Iraq. Many more are injured. I love my country, and I love my countrymen. One more American casualty is _one too many_. Time to bring them home."
At 7:06 AM -0700 7/17/03, andie nachgeborenen wrote:
>attack the Bushies as liars and warmongers, which is the real point?
Attacking Bush & Co. as liars and warmongers is just _a means_; _the end_ is to Bring the Troops Home and End the Occupation.
The slogan in Columbus, OH: "Bush Lies, Who Dies? Bring the Troops Home! End the Occupation!"
At 7:06 AM -0700 7/17/03, andie nachgeborenen wrote:
>Let's take what we can get, eh?
We can't -- and don't want to! -- get the sort of things that paid organizers of peace & justice NGOs would have us lobby Democrats for:
***** washingtonpost.com Senate Rebuffs Democrats' Moves to Challenge Bush on Iraq By Helen Dewar Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, July 17, 2003; Page A02
Senate Republicans yesterday held the line against Democratic efforts to challenge President Bush over Iraq, rejecting initiatives to internationalize postwar operations and to create a commission to probe how intelligence was used -- or misused -- to justify going to war.
The GOP-controlled Senate also defeated two Democratic proposals to force the administration to spell out the anticipated costs of continuing military operations in Iraq....
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2722-2003Jul16.html> *****
"Internationalizing postwar operations," my ass!
Smart Indians just turned down Washington's request for troops (John Kifner, "In Rebuff to U.S., India Says It Won't Send Troops to Iraq," _New York Times_ July 15, 2003, <http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0715-05.htm>)!
It's one thing for career politicians in Congress to come up with a howler like the above Democratic proposals that got voted down; it's completely another thing for peace & justice NGOs to ask us to support it. WMDs = Democratic Weapons of Mass Distraction!!!
Anyhow, some people know what time it is; some people don't....
***** New York Times July 17, 2003 U.S. Commander in Iraq Says Yearlong Tours Are Option to Combat 'Guerrilla' War By THOM SHANKER
WASHINGTON, July 16 - American troops in Iraq are under attack from "a classical guerrilla-type campaign" whose fighters....
The commander, Gen. John P. Abizaid, pledged that the United States and its allies would not be driven from Iraq by the guerrilla attacks, which today killed one American soldier and wounded at least six others around Baghdad. But he cautioned that pacifying Iraq might require fresh American troops to spend yearlong tours there, double the normal duration of Army forces on peacekeeping duty....
"I believe there's midlevel Baathist, Iraqi intelligence service people, Special Security Organization people, Special Republican Guard people that have organized at the regional level in cellular structure and are conducting what I would describe as a classical guerrilla-type campaign against us," General Abizaid said.
"It's low-intensity conflict, in our doctrinal terms, but it's war, however you describe it," he added during his first news conference since being sworn in last week as the Central Command's senior officer.
Pentagon planners disclosed today that a number of new or unusual options are under consideration to replace battle-weary American ground forces in Iraq like the Army's Third Infantry Division and the First Marine Expeditionary Force.
The Army's first Stryker Brigade Combat Team, built around a new, lightly armored vehicle named Stryker, might be ordered to Iraq this fall, and Pentagon officials are analyzing whether to activate, early next year, any of the National Guard's enhanced brigades, which are specially designated units that train with the active-duty Army and are assigned its most modern combat equipment.
Pentagon officials said other options included assigning the Marine Corps a major piece of the long-term peacekeeping operation - though it has traditionally been an expeditionary force that seizes territory but does not hold it for lengthy periods - or turning to individual Army battalions or brigades if they have not yet seen duty in Iraq.
The focus on assigning marines to Iraq peacekeeping duties - as well as pressing allies for contributions of forces - is driven at least in part by the fact that of the Army's 33 active-duty combat brigades, 21 already are deployed: 16 in Iraq, two in Afghanistan, two in South Korea and one in the Balkans, a Pentagon official said today.
In an effort to rally allies to contribute forces for the stabilization mission in Iraq, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said today that he was discussing with his foreign counterparts and the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, the possibility of introducing new United Nations resolutions that might make it possible for countries like India to take part in the coalition in Iraq.
India, as well as France and Germany, has said it will send troops only under United Nations auspices.
"I've had some discussions with other ministers, as well as with Secretary General Annan, whether or not it would be appropriate to start discussions about other U.N. resolutions," Mr. Powell said. "But that's as far as these preliminary discussions have gone."
At the United Nations, Mr. Annan spoke of the Security Council's efforts on this issue, saying, "I am sure, if there is will, they will find the language to broaden and internationalize the process."
Stress on American ground combat units has been evident in recent days as members of the Third Infantry Division, the longest-serving Army unit in Iraq, were quoted in television and other interviews as being openly critical of Mr. Rumsfeld and their mission after hearing that the promised return home of their final two brigades might slip into late autumn. One brigade has begun its journey home.
General Abizaid, himself an Army officer, complimented the combat prowess and courage of the division, and pledged again that his commanders would try to send the troops home by September - but showed no patience for public criticism of Mr. Rumsfeld by men and women in uniform.
"None of us that wear this uniform are free to say anything disparaging about the secretary of defense or the president of the United States," General Abizaid said during his Pentagon briefing. "We're not free to do that. It's our professional code. Whatever action may be taken, whether it's a verbal reprimand or something more stringent is up to the commanders on the scene and it's not for me to comment."
American troops in Iraq today or those to be deployed should expect more attacks - not only from Iraq guerrillas, but from foreign terrorists as well, the general said....
General Abizaid also said that anti-American forces had fired two surface-to-air missiles at American aircraft within the last two weeks; one of them was today. Those attacks on C-130 cargo planes also indicate an escalation in the weapons used against allied forces, beyond automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
"Matter of fact, I was on the deck of a C-130 the other day, and we had a missile warning," General Abizaid said. "And the guy made a hard right bank. And we fired off all of our flares and, you know, we looked out there. And these were guys from the Oklahoma National Guard, and they actually thought it was fun. I was terrified."
Pentagon officials also disclosed today that there have been about five deaths among troops assigned to the Iraq mission that commanders say might have been suicides. As inquiries continue, one official said the suspected suicides were not clustered in any single time period that might indicate a related cause.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/17/international/worldspecial/17MILI.html> *****
We'll be damned if we waste our time & energy doing busywork with which peace & justice NGOs would have us occupied and let Washington get on with the business of pacification, American or multinational.
No pasaran! -- Yoshie
* Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://solidarity.igc.org/>