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A Better World is Possible!
Two and a half years after the
invasion of Iraq the brutal nightmare continues with no end
in sight. According to the Lancet report, over 100,000
Iraqis have died and many more have been wounded. The death
toll of U.S. forces is over 1800 with 15,000 wounded. The
recent deaths of servicemen from Ohio and the vigil of Cindy
Sheehan at the gates of the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas
have once again reminded us that Iraq is not a distant war
but rather a bleeding wound to the families suffering from
their losses and to communities throughout the country.
The war has not brought
democracy and liberation to Iraqis, but rather, has
devastated their lives and ruined Iraq's economy. According
to Hassan Jumaa Awad, president of the Basra Oil Workers
Union: "When the regime fell, people wanted a new life- a
life without shackles and terror; a life where we could
rebuild our country and enjoy its natural wealth. Instead,
our communities have been attacked with chemicals and
cluster bombs, and our people tortured, raped and killed in
our homes." Oil is imported; unemployment is over 50%, and
Iraqis still lack food and basic services such as water and
electricity. The occupation is fueling ethnic tensions and
has undermined rather than improved the status of Iraqi
women. Iraqis, like people everywhere do not want to live
under foreign domination but want self-determination and
democracy. Neither exists under occupation. Most want a U.S.
withdrawal.
The majority in this country
believes that this war should never have happened. Millions
more are asking what this war is about. Why was it started?
The war makers in Washington have periodically shifted
explanations for the war and why the troops are there. There
is no "exit strategy" or Plan B. The proclamation of the
"Axis of Evil", the doctrine of "preemptive war", and the
targeting of Iraq, Iran, and North Korea for "regime change"
had nothing to do with defending democracy or our safety and
security. Rather, hundreds of thousands of our youth have
been asked to serve as an instrument of domination, torture,
and abuse under orders demanding "hard duty" in the service
of the drive to control the oil and politics of Iraq. The
war makers in Washington seek permanent bases in order to
project their power throughout the region. It is little
wonder that thousands of soldiers are now AWOL or resisting
the war in other ways. Well-being and security for our
working families cannot be achieved by identifying with wars
for profit and the control of markets. When popularity for
the war was high, many rallied and marched in Boston, New
York, Washington and elsewhere to demonstrate that large
numbers of people were against this war. Now we can read the
latest Gallup poll and see that millions more are coming to
the same conclusions! We are making a difference! We now
have the initiative and we are making history.
At a time when our vital
social programs are being eroded or completely decimated, an
overwhelming majority in Congress recently approved an
additional $82 billion for the war. The vote in the Senate
was 99-0! There is already talk of another $50 billion
appropriation this fall. The amount spent on the war in Iraq
is now over $200 billion in addition to the hundreds of
billions the Pentagon already receives yearly while vital
benefits for veterans have been cut. In Massachusetts alone
the cost for funding this war and occupation has reached
over $5.5 billion. This money could have been used to fund:
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48,700 additional housing
units
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93,700 public school
teachers could have been hired
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Over 3 million children
could have received medical insurance
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716,000 children could
have attended Head Start
Billions of our tax dollars
are being spent to force Palestinians to live under brutal
conditions of occupation and to support undemocratic regimes
in the Middle East. Women and people of color bear the brunt
of budget cuts as our society bears the injustice of racial
profiling, police brutality, and homophobia. In Boston, the
Pentagon seeks to construct a $128 million Bio-terror Lab
while there is a crying need for housing, healthcare,
education, and childcare. Our unions, Social Security,
single parents, reproductive rights, the unemployed and
environment are under attack. The wealthy receive massive
tax breaks while the rest of us receive the bill! The
Pentagon spends billions yearly to fund U.S. bases in the
Middle East. This must end. Fund Health Care, Social
Security, and Veterans Benefits- Not U.S. bases in the
Middle East!
Military recruiters have
virtually unrestricted access to our schools -- and the
Pentagon unrestricted access to our tax dollars. Recently
the Pentagon, in an effort to improve sagging military
recruitment, enlisted BeNow Inc. in Wakefield to compile
detailed files on students and other youth into a massive
national database. As U.S. casualties mount, the
disproportionate deaths of peoples of color and the
targeting of these communities for military recruitment
demonstrate the real face of the war and the consequences of
the poverty draft.
Youth to College – Not to Wars! Military Recruiters Out of
Our Schools!
After involvement in a failed
coup in Venezuela, U.S. policy continues to promote
hostility towards the democratic decisions of working people
there. Through Plan Colombia, enacted in 2000, the U.S. has
invested over three billion dollars in Colombia's civil war.
Since then, political assassinations and disappearances have
dramatically increased- especially against trade unionists.
Paramilitary death squads work hand-in-hand with the
Colombian military, and reap the benefits of US military
aid. The U.S. installed regime in Haiti continues to
slaughter innocent civilians with impunity, and with U.S.
support, as demonstrated in Cite Soleil where dozens of
civilians were killed in May and June. The U.S. installed
regime in Afghanistan governs little more than the capital
city of Kabul after nearly 4 years of occupation. Unionists
in the Philippines are murdered with impunity and with U.S.
support. The Pentagon spends billions yearly funding U.S.
bases in Latin America and Asia while homelessness is on the
rise and affordable housing is on the decline.
Fund Affordable Housing and Education – Not Bases in Latin
America & Asia!
In recent years, tens of
thousands of Arab, Muslim, and South Asian immigrants have
been targeted for roundups and political sweeps resulting in
mass arrests, jailings, and deportations. Many thousands of
have been picked up and held with little or no access to
lawyers or their families and incarcerated based on
retroactive minor offenses or without any charges at all!
Not surprisingly, thousands of Latin Americans and others
have been included in these sweeps as well. This policy has
been sustained through a campaign promoting fear, ignorance,
and xenophobic appeals. Laws like the Patriot Act and others
allowing "preventive detention" without charges based on
"secret evidence" and holding prisoners incommunicado are an
attack on everyone's basic rights. The assault on immigrants
must be ended immediately. The Patriot Act and other laws
that undermine our democratic rights must be repealed.
Human Rights for All!
As at Abu Graib, prisoners in
U.S. custody have been tortured and abused at the detention
camp in Guantanamo and in U.S. prisons. According to The New
York Times "The best thing Washington can now do about this
national shame [GuantanamoBay] is to shut it down." -
Editorial, June 5, 2005. A U.S. departure from Guantanamo is
long overdue. The practice of outsourcing torture to
locations outside of U.S. custody, the "rendition" policy,
must be ended.
End the Torture and Abuse of Prisoners!
According to Donald Rumsfeld
the war could last as many as 12 more years! How much longer
will the destruction of Iraq and its people rage on in our
name? How many more soldiers will die in a war based on
lies? How many more billions of our tax dollars will be
drained into a war of conquest and domination? How many more
billions will be looted from vital social needs such as
jobs, education, and healthcare or libraries, firehouses,
childcare, eldercare, or social security? The time to act is
now. An end to the war and occupation will infuse movements
for global justice and the rights of working people with
energy and initiative.
A better world is possible! |
