Progressives Flock to Ed Markey's Senate Campaign Despite Hawkish Record

Progressives Flock to Ed Markey's Senate Campaign Despite Hawkish Record
Wednesday, 05 June 2013 10:14 By Stephen Zunes, Truthout | News Analysis

Democratic Congressman Ed Markey of Massachusetts is heavily favored to win the June 25 special election to fill the US Senate seat in Massachusetts vacated by John Kerry's appointment as Secretary of State. Markey's campaign has received widespread and enthusiastic backing from the progressive community, including endorsements from groups such as Peace Action and Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) which have previously tended to formally endorse only a selected number of candidates who - unlike Markey - have strong records on peace and human rights. Compare this state of affairs to the l980s, when death-squad Democrats supporting US involvement in Central America could scarcely hope to secure an endorsement from many of those same progressive organizations.

This nearly unprecedented level of support comes despite the fact that - even though he comes from one of the most liberal states in the country - Markey's foreign policy record is well to the right of the majority of Democrats, both in Massachusetts and nationally.

As this article describes below, Markey was among the right-wing minority of Democratic members of the House of Representatives who voted to authorize the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2002. And it appears that his belief in the legitimacy of the United States waging war against oil-rich Middle Eastern adversaries has not changed: Markey has supported a series of Republican-sponsored resolutions on Iran which appear to be designed to challenge the Obama administration's more cautious policy and push the country towards an armed conflict. Furthermore, Markey has co-sponsored a series of resolutions and signed Dear Colleague letters defending Israeli violations of international humanitarian law, has criticized the International Court of Justice for reiterating the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention in occupied territories, has attacked reputable international jurists and others for documenting war crimes, and has rejected conditioning military aid to foreign governments on human rights criteria.

However we choose to vote as individuals, we must pressure peace groups and other progressive organizations to stop supporting Democratic hawks like Markey and instead restrict their endorsements to those who - while not perfect - at least do not abuse elected office to promote war, militarization, oppression and the weakening of international law.

More:
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/16773-progressives-flock-to-ed-markeys-senate-campaign-despite-hawkish-record