Report from the weekend in DC

From: Gary Allison
Date: January 28, 2007 10:54:24 PM CST
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
Subject: Saturday's Peace March in Washington, D.C.


Sunday, January 28, 10:00 PM

Dear Just Progress Members

Barbara and I just returned from Washington, D.C., where we participated in Saturday's march for peace. This event was both exciting and sobering.

It was exciting because in my humble opinion there were at least 500,000 people there from all parts of the nation, from all walks of life, and from every age group imaginable. I was so impressed by the many young people I spoke with, many of whom had driven hundreds of miles all through the night to reach the march just as it started. Adding to the excitement were the great speakers. It was, of course, very thrilling to hear the eloquent words of Jesse Jackson, Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, Jane Fonda, and Tim Robbins. But, it was just as inspirational, if not more so, to hear speakers representing Gold Star Families--families who have lost loved ones fighting in Irag and Afghanistan--organized labor, NOW and many other frontline Progressive organizations. Of all the words we heard, the one's that had the most effect on me were Tim Robbins' when he said that:

"Richard Nixon talked to walls, but George Bush is talking to God. The God Bush is talking to is not a God I recognize. This God seems to be giving Bush a pass on many of the Ten Commandments. Among the Commandments he is getting a pass on are 'Thou shalt not bear false witness' [here Robbins recited a long list of Bush lies and exaggerations], 'honor thy father' [here Robbins noted that Bush I had given Bush II advice not to go to Iraq], and, most importantly, 'THOU SHALT NOT KILL!'" He closed his speech by asking why so many of the Democrats who campaigned against these transgressions now are saying that impeachment is off the table.

The march was sobering because everything you could see and hear in Washington, at the March, from knowledgeable people who live there, from the Conservative Summit that was being held in our hotel, is that Bush has no intention on honoring the election demands given him by Voters last November 7. This is all the more sobering when you hear speech after speech from people on the front line of this war detailing how poorly it has gone, how many of our civil rights have been taken away, and how much criminal behavior (torture) has been done in the name of our security. As one speaker, whose name I cannot remember, shouted to the crowd: We are all responsible for allowing these horrible things to happen, for until very recently there has not been any significant mass protest demanding that these horrors committed in our name be stopped and redressed.

As just one example, the morning of the March, the Washington Post reported that the young arab-Canadian that we kidnapped and sent incognito to Syria to be interrogated by torture has received an apology and $9 million dollars in recompense from Canada for its role in cooperating with the United States to send this young man away. The Prime Minister of Canada demanded that the United States apologize and restore this young man's right to travel through and within our borders. In reply, the Bush Administration made it clear that it had no intention of apologizing to this victim and stated that he would remain on our Terrorist watch lists, including our No Fly List.

Along the same lines, we heard from Jesselyn Radack, who was an attorney in the Justice Department's Professional Responsibility Advisory Office during the John Walker Lindh case. She raised legal and ethical objections over the questioning of Lindh without his lawyer and revealed misconduct by Department of Justice officials. As a result, Radack was pushed out of her job at the Justice Department, fired from her next job, put under criminal investigation and put on the no-fly list (where she remains as of Saturday).

Most sobering to me, however, was the shameful fact that only a handful of Democrats in public office accepted invitations to speak at this March. Among those running for President, only Dennis Kucinich showed up. No Democrats in the Senate appeared. Only a handful of Democrats in the House appeared, including John Conyers, Maxine Waters, Lynne Woolsey, and Jerry Nadler. Perhaps the best speech by a Democrat in public office came from Salt Lake City mayor "Rocky" Anderson. If a politician from a red state such as Utah has the courage to come to this peace March, it speaks volumes about those who would presume to head our ticket in 2008 that only Congressman Kucinich would be seen at this event.

My disappointment in our putative leaders will not, however, eclipse my pride and my joy in our fellow American citizens who came to the March and were with us in spirit. As I was leaving my room this morning, a door to another room opened and a young woman and her two very small children appeared. The woman bent down and picked up the copy of the Sunday Washington Post that was provided each guest. She glanced at the front page and then started calling to her husband: "My God, Michael, they put it on the front page. This is so important. She hugged her children. I asked "were you at the March." Her reply: "Yes, and I could never have believed that a middle of the road soccer mom like me would have ever done such a thing. I was so impressed with how respectful everyone was and how the overwhelming majority are just everyday citizens like me trying to get by. I expected to be in a band of wild radicals."

Hearing this young soccer mom makes me believe the tide is turning if we all just kick it up a notch. Impeachment should not be off the table. We should not resign ourselves to Bush having his way with our young military men and women for two more years. We should do all we can to see that he does not get a chance to get us in another war, this time in Iran.

I know I'm preaching to the choir, but I truly believe our time is at hand if we will only seize the moments now given to us to make a difference.

Your friend in the War for Peace

Gary

PS:

Best sign I saw not related to the War:

No Child Left Behind with a Dime.