A Nasty War And How To Stop It

Brooklyn Parents For Peace table at Prospect Park.

It's easy to feel disheartened, depressed and defeated. After last November's tumultuous election, when the American people threw out Republican warmongers and Bush-rubber stampers and replaced them with anti-war Democrats, we rightfully anticipated that Congress would finally find its spine and put an end to the disastrous war and occupation in Iraq.

So when the new Congress with its new Democratic leadership, caved in to Bush several weeks ago and gave him yet another rubber-stamp check of $100 Billion (bringing the total thus far to a staggering $433 billion ) we were furious. But beyond anger, many felt deflated and hopeless. "What's the use?" people thought. "We've demonstrated, petitioned, voted and demonstrated some more. Yet the war goes on." Just as the Imperial President -- with his 29% approval ratings and polls showing nearly 70% of Americans opposing the war -- ignores the will of the people, so has Congress ignored that same message and voted to fund an escalation instead. More tax dollars down the rat hole of war and corruption. More young American lives cut short. More innocent Iraqi citizens killed. More agony of a small and poor country ground down into dust, destruction and civil war.

It's enough to break your heart and to break your will. But that would be the wrong reaction. The entire world is opposed to Bush and this war. But the entire world also depends on the American people to end it! That's right. They depend on us to end this war. And, in the end, it will be the American people who carry out that task on behalf of all humanity.

When working for peace it's important to take the long view. This war has now gone on for a longer amount of time than our country was engaged in World War II. But there was never a guarantee that we could bring it to an end within a prescribed amount of time. The bloody forces of OIL, who launched and maintain this war and who want to capture Iraq in order poket her petroleum, are very powerful. To mobilize the American people in sufficient numbers to defeat that power is not an easy undertaking. But, regardless of difficulty, that's the job that has to be done.

Now is not the time to give up. To the contrary: The reality of where we're at should have us working ever-harder to end the war. The reality is that we've had an immensely profound effect on our country and our people.

It is the American peace movement and nobody else that has shifted a majority of Americans to now oppose this war. It certainly was not the complicit media. It certainly was not our political leaders who cowered for so many years as Bush waged this immoral war. No, it was we who pointed out from day one, how wrong this war was. And now a majority of our citizens agree!

And it was the American peace movement that was responsible for a huge shift in Congress last November. Just look at that last vote of several weeks ago. Pessimists and defeatists will say that Congress caved in. And they'd be right. But that's only half the story. The other part is that 142 members of Congress voted against the Supplemental bill. That would have been unthinkable just seven months ago when opposition could be counted on the fingers of your hands!

Here in Brooklyn, I can proudly point to the work of my peace group (Brooklyn Parents For Peace) who waged a fantastic campaign on the streets of our communities. Six hundred postcards were collected from residents and sent on to our Brooklyn Congressmembers! Thousands of leaflets imprinted with the phone numbers of Representatives to be called, were handed out. Dozens of phone calls to Congress were launched right at our table with a exciting new approach using our own cell phones: a Congressional Call-A-Thon to demand that Congress stand up to Bush.

Brooklyn Parents For Peace's leaflet handed out by the thousands to Brooklyn Residents.

Did we end the war yet? No.

Were we successful? Absolutely! Look at this --

Five of the six Brooklyn reps voted against the funding supplemental (the sixth is the Republican Bushite, Vito Fossella who will go to his political grave in support of the Administration). We were told by one Congressional aide that his boss was voting NO because "you guys have made it impossible to do anything else."

The moral of this story is this:

People in action can push Congress to finally say NO to Bush.

People in action can end this war.

Now is precisely the time to turn up the street heat.

Now is precisely the time to get even more people into action than we've done till now:

• More people, more pressure.

• More pressure, more Congressmembers voting the right way next time. And that means fewer Democrats slipping away to join the Republicans to vote more money for war.

And there are more "next times" coming down the pike right now. Bush has already asked for another $140 Billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

So what are we waiting for? Let's get to work!

The glass is half full and we've got to fill it all the way to the top with the sweet elixir of peace.