Cape Cod Friends Peace Fair

Yarmouth Friends’ Peace Fair

A Peace and Arts Festival

Saturday,

Sept. 19, 2009

11 am to 4 pm.

Yarmouth Friends (Quaker) Meetinghouse

58 N. Main St, South Yarmouth 

• Handicrafts
• Music
• Art
• Peace Related       Exhibits
• Attic Treasures

• Free Market

No - Cost Winter Outerwear (Child & Adult)

• Sign the World’s Biggest Peace Book
• Walk the Peace Labyrinth
• Great Food
• Children’s Activities             
• Family Fun

Peace Fair Proceeds to benefit the Cape Cod Council of Churches’ Hands of Hope Outreach Center and Food Pantry in West Harwich.   Please bring a non-perishable food item to donate, if you are able.

For Information Call (508) 432-4757.

BOYCOTT DUNKIN' DONUTS

Boycott Dunkin' Donuts! Click Here and Tell A Friend!

Dunkin’ Donuts has capitulated and withdrawn an advertisement for its products following the allegation by a right-wing hack, Michelle Malkin, that the spokeswoman in the ad was pictured wearing a kaffiyeh, a scarf which is a staple of clothing traditionally worn by Palestinian men.

The scarf pictured in the ad is not actually a kaffiyeh. But the anti-Arab racism of the right-wing, pro-Bush ideologues like Malkin is so extreme that they launched their campaign because they “thought” the scarf was this traditional Arab garment. Dunkin’ Donuts pulled their ad apologizing that the scarf might even resemble a kaffiyeh.

1. Review the message on the right.
2. Complete the form below with your information.
3. Click the Send Your Message button to send your letter to the following places:
1) Jon Luther, CEO, Dunkin Brands, Inc.
2) Dunkin Donuts Corporate Offices



I am outraged at your decision to stop running a commercial based on the possible perception that it contained an Arab kaffiyeh. Until your company issues an official apology for yielding to anti-Arab racists, I am boycotting all of your products and stores -- and I'm encouraging all my friends and family members to do the same.

I also am aware that by supporting your products I am directly funding one of the many consumer unfriendly corporate owners, The Carlyle Group., knowing what I know now I will not spend another dollar in your Dunken Donuts or other retail outlets.

Here's what an October 31, 2001 Guardian story had to say about the Carlyle Group:

It should be a deep cause for concern that a closely held company like Carlyle can simultaneously have directors and advisers that are doing business and making money and also advising the president of the United States," says Peter Eisner, managing director of the Center for Public Integrity, a non-profit-making Washington think-tank. "The problem comes when private business and public policy blend together. What hat is former president Bush wearing when he tells Crown Prince Abdullah not to worry about US policy in the Middle East? What hat does he use when he deals with South Korea, and causes policy changes there? Or when James Baker helps argue the presidential election in the younger Bush's favour? It's a kitchen-cabinet situation, and the informality involved is precisely a mark of Carlyle's success. [...]

But what sets Carlyle apart is the way it has exploited its political contacts. When Carlucci arrived there in 1989, he brought with him a phalanx of former subordinates from the CIA and the Pentagon, and an awareness of the scale of business a company like Carlyle could do in the corridors and steak-houses of Washington. In a decade and a half, the firm has been able to realise a 34% rate of return on its investments, and now claims to be the largest private equity firm in the world. Success brought more investors, including the international financier George Soros and, in 1995, the wealthy Saudi Binladin family, who insist they long ago severed all links with their notorious relative. The first president Bush is understood to have visited the Binladins in Saudi Arabia twice on the firm's behalf. [...]

But if the Binladins' connection to the Carlyle Group lasted no more than six years, the current President Bush's own links to the firm go far deeper. In 1990, he was appointed to the board of one of Carlyle's first purchases, an airline food business called Caterair, which they eventually sold at a loss. He left the board in 1992, later to become Governor of Texas.

WIKIPEDIA CARLYLE FACTS: Political figures

North America

* George H. W. Bush, former U.S. President, Senior Advisor to the Carlyle Asia Advisory Board from April 1998 to October 2003.
* George W. Bush, current U.S. President. Was appointed in 1990 to the Board of Directors of one of Carlyle's first acquisitions, an airline food business called Caterair, which Carlyle eventually sold at a loss. Bush left the board in 1992 to run for Governor of Texas.
* James Baker III, former United States Secretary of State under George H. W. Bush, Staff member under Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, Carlyle Senior Counselor, served in this capacity from 1993 to 2005.
* Frank C. Carlucci, former United States Secretary of Defense from 1987 to 1989; Also, former Princeton wrestling partner of former US Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. Carlyle Chairman and Chairman Emeritus from 1989 to 2005.
* Richard Darman, former Director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget under George H. W. Bush, Senior Advisor and Managing Director of The Carlyle Group from 1993 to the present
* Randal K. Quarles, former Under Secretary of the U.S. Treasury under President George W. Bush, now a Carlyle managing director
* Allan Gotlieb, Canadian ambassador to the United States (1981-89) and member of Carlyle's Canadian advisory board.
* William Kennard, Chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under President Bill Clinton, Carlyle's Managing Director in the Telecommunications & Media Group from 2001 to the present.
* Arthur Levitt, Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under President Bill Clinton, Carlyle Senior Advisor from 2001 to the present
* Mack McLarty, White House Chief of Staff under President Bill Clinton, President of Kissinger McLarty Associates, Carlyle Senior Advisor from 2003 to the present
* Dan Senor - political consultant
* Peter Lougheed - Premier of Alberta (1971-85)
* Luis Téllez Kuenzler, Mexican economist, current Secretary of Communications and Transportation under the Felipe Calderón administration and former Secretary of Energy under the Zedillo administration.
* Frank McKenna, Canadian ambassador to the United States and former member of Carlyle's Canadian advisory board

Europe

* John Major, former British Prime Minister, Chairman, Carlyle Europe from 2002 until 2005

Asia

* Liu Hong-Ru, former chairman of China's Securities Regulatory Commission
* Anand Panyarachun, former Prime Minister of Thailand (twice), former member of the Carlyle Asia Advisory Board until the board was disbanded in 2004
* Fidel V. Ramos, former president of the Philippines, Carlyle Asia Advisor Board Member until the board was disbanded in 2004
* Thaksin Shinawatra, deposed Prime Minister of Thailand, former member of board, who resigned on taking office in 2001

Middle East

* Shafig bin Laden, older brother of Osama bin Laden

Media

* Norman Pearlstine - editor-in-chief of Time magazine from (1995-2005)
Enough Said?

READ THIS BOOK!

The book Natural Capitalism was used as a text book for a young family friend, Tim Marcella, has helped me with eyes W I D E - O P E N ((0)) ^ ((0)), and showed that .."if we always do what we always did, we will always get what we always got". I want and the world needs a different USA foreign policy and a different president!

As John Lennon said in his 1968 Xmas greeting, War is Over! ....... :) "if you want it"

After hurricane Katrina, I became deeply involved in the work of stopping the occupation of Iraq, by trying to show the human cost of war. Arlington East was one of the fruits of that labor, displaying 2800 grave markers for the fallen on a autumnal day in October 2006, on Cape Cod. With over 215 grave markers for Iraqi children killed as well.

How many US suicides have there been and has it been under reported?
How many US deaths will it take?
How many US wounded? How many Iraqis?
For what ? Oil Profits? Saddam is gone, No WMD! The Iraqis have a new democracy, new leaders. What about the reconstruction and reconciliation. Who running for president cares about this problem?

How many years and what natural resources , and human capital will we squander and for what end?

Millions of refuges from Iraq, the Sub-Sahara, and the whole of Africa are being displaced by war and Global Warming.

How many Iraqi dead or displaced? Millions!

Q. How many Iraqi refuges in Iraq?
Source - Refugees International

A. (RI) Refugees International generates lifesaving humanitarian assistance and protection for displaced people around the world, and works to end the conditions that create displacement. RI website states that... "An estimated 1.8 million Iraqi refugees have fled Iraq since the U.S. conflict began in 2003 and are now living throughout the Middle East, including Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Inside Iraq, 1.7 million people have been internally displaced -- with 600,000 displaced since 2003. Many of these people have fled targeting by insurgents due to their alleged collaboration with U.S. forces and the new Iraqi government. Others are fleeing the growing sectarian violence at home. RI conducted assessment missions to the region in November 2006 and February 2007 to assess this crisis and is working to bring these refugees to the attention of U.S. officials and UNHCR."


Q. What main countries absorbed the Palestinian refuges in 1948?
A. In the Jordan, Syria and Lebanon!

What was the human cost of these wars?

A. Natural Capitalism gave me some strategies to my new understanding of how we can make a better, more peaceful world. It has the way forward toward hope.

In "Natural Capitalism" the authors Amory B. Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins, Paul Hawken redefine expendable humanity. The "human capital" shows to us the REAL need for anyone to see how we must can change our thinking from old capitalism to "human focused" Capitalism. A must read for anyone running for President, or voting for President in 2008. This young graduate student of the earth who happens to be in Tern Island, Hawaii studying albatross eggs is my teacher, Thanks Tim!

The Albatross - legendary protector of seafarers - is heading for extinction. Biologists have discovered that swordfish and tuna fishing fleets are eliminating more that 100 000 of these birds every year. In a couple of decades most species will be wiped out unless urgent action is taken. Tim is taking action on Tern Island!

Peacefully yours,
John Bangert

--
Not one more dime!
Not one more day!
Not one more death !
Bring Our Troops Home Now!

Cape Cod Times Letter by Member - Dan Corrigan

'Our enemies' means Bush's enemies

May 01, 2007 MAY DAY-2007

None of the people America is killing in Iraq are enemies of mine.

When President Bush and his cohorts speak of "our enemy," he's not speaking for me. I've got nothing against any Shiite, Sunni, or Kurdish man, woman or child. When Bush orders these people killed, he's not killing them for me. He might be killing them for his America, but he's not killing for mine, because my America is different from that.

My America would never torture anyone — an America where government serves the poor as well as it serves the rich. My America believes in justice, talking about our differences with other countries and not killing over them, and belief in the rule of law.

Bush's America, however, is a different story.

It may irritate Sen. Inhofe if he heard it, but let me be clear: None of these Iraqis America kills, maims, or totally terrifies are enemies of mine, especially the children. And I apologize as deeply as I can to these victims of Bush's reckless, unchecked greed. I wish I could tell all of Iraq how saddened I am, how ashamed I am of what America has done to them. When will their Bush-caused nightmare ever end? When will ours?

Dan Corrigan

Harwich

March on Pentagon View by Artist and Mother

This march was grim, unlike the rally on January 27th. It was cold and we had counter-demonstrators.

We arrived early, as usual, about eight am, after a long, slow ride through snow and freezing rain, and a middling breakfast at The Waffle House north of Baltimore.

The first thing we noticed on arrival was a maze of snow fences crisscrossing the lawns around the staging area and the Vietnam Memorial. As we moved around getting a feeling for the territory we passed a line going through a security checkpoint. As it turned out, this was the current entrance to the Vietnam Memorial. The line was occupied by men, all leather-jacketed biker types who challenged us as we walked by them yelling things like “You do not belong here” and “You can’t come in here.” I had not planned to go to the Vietnam Memorial but I had thought I would go look at the Roosevelt Memorial or perhaps the Lincoln Memorial. The way to either was blocked by snow fences and heavy security.

I learned later that there had been rumors circulating on some right wing web sites, specifically a site called gatheringofeagles.org, that the peace marchers were planning to defile the Vietnam Memorial, this because someone had spilt paint on the steps of Congress at the January rally. I don’t imagine any of the marchers had any such idea, the Vietnam Memorial being something utterly different from the steps of Congress, but by the look of things, DC officials were sufficiently alarmed by this turn of events to impose some heavy security around the area.

(If you go to the Gathering of Eagles site be sure to scroll down the and hit the link “about” under “sections” in the right hand column. )

It started the day on a depressing note.

The Gathering of Eagles, dressed in their black leather jackets, stood in a group at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial. There was a barricade in front of them, a space about a lane deep in front of the barricade, and then another barricade behind which was the staging area for the march. Police, including mounted police on huge shiny well-muscled horses, stood watch between us. Our group found a spot at the front of the crowd and opposite The Gathering. They taunted and swore at us, while the march organizers encouraged the crowd with speeches and chants and lively anti-war music. We danced to stay warm. When the march got under way the Gathering of Eagles lined the street like watchers at a parade. Security was everywhere. They were hostile, mean, squinty eyed, hard faced, and scary. They yelled insults and shook their heads.

The march over the Potomac was frigid. As icy winds came blowing up from that very, very wide river, we felt that we were on the longest bridge in the world. When we got to the other side I kept trying to look back to see how long the march was, it seemed to me that there were still marchers on the bridge as we approached the rally site, but it was hard to tell. We were very close to the front of the march and among the first to arrive at the rally where it was staged on the parking lot south of the Pentagon. The Pentagon itself, huge and unapproachable, served as a formidable and colorless backdrop to the stage. Out of all those many windows, I wondered, how did we look standing here?

We stood close to the stage, almost to the barricade, and were able to see and hear the speakers perfectly. We moved and swayed and marched in place to stay warm. Cindy Sheehan was there and spoke about how standing in front of the Pentagon was like being in the shadow of the Death Star. She spoke about the march against the Vietnam war forty years ago and how we were here again forty years later and how she didn’t want to be out here in the cold as a ninety year old woman marching against another war. Ramsey Clark, attorney general under Johnson and Cynthia McKinney, former Congresswoman from Georgia also spoke, among others.

(Democraynow.org has video of some speakers on their website.)

The demonstrators started wondering off at around four, an hour before the rally was slated to end. We were all frozen and the best of the speakers had spoken. Our group followed the crowd to the Arlington Cemetery Metro station. While we waited on line to purchase fare cards, which took about an hour, we nibbled on the cheese and crackers and pepperoni that I had brought with me. No one had eaten since our breakfast at The Waffle House. At the Pentagon City mall we thawed out and warmed up and recouped our resources with a burger and a beer before boarding the bus around seven pm and heading home.

As the bus pulled out of the city some riders used the bus’s mike to talk to us and reflect on the days experience. One talked about getting caught up in the snow fence maze with his young daughter and being abused by the Gathering of Eagles as they tried to negotiate the labyrinth and return to the demonstration. Among the vets on the bus one talked about the MIA POW flags that some members of the Gathering of Eagles were flying. How the POW MIA movement symbolized everything that had gone wrong for the Vietnam Vets and how strange it was to see these flags flying on the other side. As I listened I was struck by the irony of these vets supporting an administration that has been so negligent in regard to returning soldiers. I was also struck by how muted the reaction was on our side. The dominant emotion among us in regard to the Gathering of Eagles seemed to be a kind of sadness. I thought to myself that, at the end of the day, we must have outnumbered them fifty to one.

Peace,

Andrea

PS If you feel that you missed out on making donations to the Cape Cod Peace bus, never fear. We came up short and could still use your donations. Make checks out to:

John Bangert
5 Stage Coach Road
Harwich, MA 02645

Iraq and Vietnam: contrasting protests

By DAVID CRARY, AP National WriterTue Mar 20, 5:44 PM ET

America's current anti-war movement is resourceful and persistent, but often seems to lack the vibrancy of its counterpart in the Vietnam era when protesters burned draft cards, occupied buildings and even tried to levitate the Pentagon.

The biggest difference, say activists and historians, is the lack of a draft.

Today's college-age youth face no threat of conscription to fight in Iraq, and campuses are more tranquil than during Vietnam.

"We're not as unified, not as hard-core, not as big," said Frida Berrigan, 32, a board member of the War Resisters League and daughter of the late peace activist Philip Berrigan. "There's a reason there's not a draft."

Since Saturday, protests marking the fourth anniversary of the Iraq war have been held in hundreds of communities nationwide, ranging from small-town vigils in Maine to a "die-in" in San Francisco. Passions sometimes ran high and more than 100 protesters were arrested. But attendance in many cities was modest, no national turnout figure was announced, and at no point did the events come close to dominating the national agenda.

"There is tremendous anti-war sentiment in the country that has not all found its way into activism," said Leslie Cagan, a student protest organizer during the Vietnam War and now national coordinator of the anti-war coalition United for Peace and Justice.

"Our challenge is to tap into that sentiment and help people see legitimate, productive ways to express themselves," Cagan said. "Part of what we're up against is an attitude that you can't fight the powers that be."

With both Iraq and Vietnam, public opinion gradually shifted over the years until polls showed more opponents than supporters. In each era, protesters railed against White House determination to pursue the war regardless of widespread doubts.

But there are several key differences now: far lower U.S. casualties — roughly 3,200 vs. about 58,000 then; less of the generational conflict that added fuel to the Vietnam protests; and, a desire by many anti-war leaders not to demonize the military.

"There's a lot of caution now," said David Schmitz, a history professor at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash. "Many people who oppose the war in Iraq are very concerned that they not be seen as being against the troops."

James Carafano, an Army veteran and defense policy expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said the contrast in attitudes toward the military is stark.

"During Vietnam, the perception was that atrocities were everywhere — the military was looked down on," he said. "There is a serious effort now not to stigmatize the military — a conscious effort to say, 'This is not a bunch of baby-killers.'"

For Vietnam protesters, the military served as a prime foil. Students demanded the ouster of ROTC programs from their campuses and protested at draft centers, chanting "Hell No, We Won't Go." Four days of demonstrations at Kent State University — that included the burning of an ROTC building — ended disastrously when National Guard gunfire killed four students in 1970.

Now campuses are quieter, and some liberal baby-boomer professors grumble that students are too detached. But 24-year-old Miranda Wilson, national campus coordinator for Peace Action, says such stereotyping is wrong and contends there is broad, though often low-key, opposition to the war.

"During Vietnam, people were questioning the government itself — it got a lot more coverage," she said. "What's happening now isn't so dramatically visible from the outside."

Democratic Sen. John Kerry, who returned from Vietnam combat duty to join the anti-war movement, said the lack of a draft "has greatly affected the level of activism and the intensity" of today's protest campaign.

"Right now, it's not changing a lot of minds," he said in a telephone interview Tuesday. But the anti-war movement is "putting some pressure on people as they run for public office. It will help change the makeup of Congress — it already has."

The Vietnam era featured larger-than-life figures — Martin Luther King Jr., John Lennon, Muhammad Ali — and colorful provocateurs such as Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. Hoffman masterminded the attempt to levitate the Pentagon in 1967; both were at the center of protests that sparked clashes with police at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago.

For all their intensity, however, the Vietnam protests failed to produce quick results, with U.S. troops pulling out six years after the first huge anti-war rallies in 1967. The effectiveness of the current movement remains to be judged; even some of its leaders sound unsure.

"The so-called normalcy of life allows people to go about their business, even if they're against the war," said Kevin Martin, executive director of Peace Action. "Meanwhile, Bush and Cheney don't care how low their popularity is — they're going to keep doing what they're doing until someone stops them."

Barry Romo, who served with the Army in Vietnam, became an anti-war activist after his return home and remains a national leader of Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

While proud of the Vietnam protest movement, he says the Iraq anti-war campaign is even more impressive under the circumstances.

"It cuts across class lines," he said. "You see black churches and trade unions involved. When I go to demonstrations, it really is a rainbow."

Comparing the two movements, Frida Berrigan suggested today's protesters perhaps have a broader sense of compassion and global awareness.

"A lot of the opposition to Vietnam was motivated by people's fear of going to war — maybe it was pretty self-centered," she said. "With this movement, maybe it's not as big, but it comes from a deeper place than 'Hell No, We Won't Go.'"

Ted the Afghan_Vet Speaks Out!

Notice: the Cape Cod Today Folks asked us NOT to post more than 2 x a week!

Why not protest in a time of declared war, especially when that war was unprovoked? And, yes, I do think this administration is repeating the mistakes of the Viet Nam conflict. Of course, as veterans (am I going too far to assume you are a vet?) we know that no one has more interest in peace, today or any other time, than the soldiers who go to work, risking life and limb, when it fails. As for the message our demonstrations send, there I must beg to differ with you as I will differ another time about the soldiers fighting being an "all voluntary" force.

I was in Afghanistan, OEF IV, on a mission I was proud to undertake--the hunt for Bin Laden. Mere months after the invasion of Iraq, even after the officially touted, "End of Combat Operations"; we saw our logistical support drying up, being diverted to Iraq. It came to the point where we were running short on fuel, parts, even ammunition. Still, we managed to carry on. My unit participated in numerous Combined Arms Operations, missions planned to apprehend or terminate key leaders in Al Qaeda. Each time, despite flawless execution of our operations, we came up empty handed. By the end of my rotation, I was informed through my chain of command that those Combined Arms Operations were merely shows of force. As if that wasn't enough, there were other instances when one of these key leaders was located in or around Kabul. Rather than mobilize an Army Special Forces team that was less than an hour away, the Pentagon deferred the target to SEAL teams that were several hours away. Needless to say, by the time they got there, the target was no longer on site.

This is the kind of incompetence and dishonesty that turned me against this administration. As a former member of the Armed Forces, with fifteen years of service, I am very patriotic and concerned with the security of my nation and the safety of my fellow Americans. However, I have come to feel that it is the actions of our government, more than our ideology that has steeled our enemy against us. Four years after the invasion of Iraq, we have not established security in Iraq despite numerous troop increases. We have yet to make more than a dent in improving the infrastructure in Iraq or providing jobs for the population. Furthermore, by proposing an economic plan that would give 80% of Iraqi oil revenue to US companies, our administration is demonstrating its economic agenda towards Iraq, and perhaps its true motivation for invading the country in the first place.

Regardless of your views of September 11th, the fact remains that Iraq was not involved in that attack. This administration intentionally manipulated or created intelligence to deceive the American people and Congress into supporting an invasion of Iraq. Subsequent investigations and numerous testimonies have confirmed this. We were told that once Hussein was captured, we'd leave. That was also a lie. We were told our forces would withdraw once stability was established in Iraq, yet coalition forces have participated in the perpetuation of instability. (With this I refer to the British soldiers, SAS that were caught in the process of planting explosives in a Shia neighborhood while dressed in Sunni garb, driving a civilian vehicle loaded with explosives and carrying no identification. This is widely documented by a variety of foreign media sources but was swept under the rug by US media and spun outright by the British media. Where one Special Forces team was caught, it is not a far leap to believe more were in play.)

In a time of global extremism, moderate positions are more conducive to compromise and therefore peace. Instead of arbitrarily accepting that our enemies hate us for our freedoms, perhaps we should look to our actions as instigation of their animosity. Imperialism and terrorism are opposing forces that rarely exist exclusively of one another. Imperialistic governments rely on propaganda to provide public support for their agendas. Often, as is documented, state-sponsored terrorism is used to create the fear that suppresses the question of governmental reports and press releases. When dissent is suppressed, then democracy is effectively snuffed--the people no longer have a voice and are no longer served by the government.

"Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." --Hermann Goering, Nazi Reichmarshall, Luft Waffe Commander, testimony from the Nuremburg Trials after WWII.

The signs that were carried by the Eagles rang of the very kind of propaganda rhetoric that Goering was speaking about. When the population blindly accepts the propaganda of its government, the rationality of the people is called into question and hope for peaceful resolution of conflicts with that nation is lost. When hope for peace is lost, violence is the only course remaining. That is why I feel justified in my opinion that sending more troops and insisting on "Staying the course" is fueling the violence against our troops--getting more and more of them killed without reason.

How many times have we been told that we're "Bringing Democracy to the people of Iraq"? Well, my question is, how can we bring Democracy to others when it is a struggling notion here at home? Democracy is based on the discussion of differing ideas to find a compromise that meets the needs of the majority of the people. When those who have ideas that differ from those of the administration are demonized, insulted, and assaulted, that represents a clear suppression of the freedom of speech, the refusal of our elected representative(s) to acknowledge the concerns of the people. While we're talking about the people and Democracy, let's remember that there is a definite and distinct difference between one's country and one's government. Our Fore Fathers knew this very well. They took a stand for what was best for our country, against the government at that time. Similarly, but hopefully peacefully, we take a stand against our government, to demonstrate that there are plenty among the US population that retain our wits about us, despite the anger, fear, and hate the administration's propaganda machine is churning out upon us. It is now our charge to make our concerns known and take a stand for what we believe is best for our nation, not the government or its wealthy elite cohorts.

Going back to the "mistakes of Viet Nam" discussion, the propaganda our government is churning out now rings the same sentiments that were conveyed then. Back then we were told of the dangers our withdrawal would hold: That the fight against Communism would find its way here, that South Viet Nam would be thrust into bloody chaos--spilling the blood of thousands of innocents. Those threats did not come to bear. We did not fight Communism on US soil and Viet Nam found its own stability soon enough, later to become a normalized trading partner with the US and a forgiving member of the global community. The people of Viet Nam, even under Communist influence, were able to find their own way through and returned to their cultural roots. Similarly, if we withdraw from Iraq, they will find their own way through this. Eventually, likely sooner than later, they will form a governmental system that suits their needs and culture, not the economic desires of US corporations. From my point of view, no economic interest or political agenda warrants the loss of our precious human lives.

How can you justify flying POW/MIA flags, making a statement against a government that left its soldiers behind then, only to show support for a government that is willing to do the same. The Bush administration will not even fund the only national memorial to our service members who have lost their lives since September 11th, the "Faces of the Fallen" memorial. That memorial has been entirely privately funded and is only temporarily housed in the Women's War Memorial at the Arlington National Cemetery. A rendering of a friend of mine is displayed there.
Such is the true nature of this administration--they would leave us behind. This administration has repeatedly cut funding to the Department of Veteran's Affairs. More are being turned away and denied treatment or disabilities fur injuries sustained in this war. Like in Viet Nam, those suffering from PTSD are not receiving adequate treatment.
Why are the flag-draped coffins of our fallen not greeted by veterans when they return home anymore? Why does the administration refuse to consider the human cost of war? In stead of "no child left behind", we need a "no service member left behind" policy. With great power comes great responsibility. If our government is not willing to take care of its soldiers, then we should end the war. Total power corrupts totally. There are only two solutions to a corrupt government--regime change or protest. Which would you prefer???
Afghan_Vet