WP: Groups Preparing New Push Against Iraq War

Groups Preparing New Push Against Iraq War
Invasion Anniversary Next Month Is Date Of Campaign Kickoff

By Evelyn Nieves
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 18, 2005; Page A03


On Feb. 15, 2003, as millions of people worldwide took to the streets to protest the imminent U.S. invasion of Iraq, Marine Lance Cpl. Michael Hoffman was in Kuwait, awaiting deployment to Baghdad.

Two years later, Hoffman, 25, is a civilian on the lecture circuit, introducing himself as an Iraq Veteran Against the War. On March 19, when war opponents plan to converge near Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, N.C., to mark the date of the invasion, Hoffman, who co-founded the Iraq veterans group, will be one of the lead speakers....

***

Along with Gold Star Families for Peace, which is made up of people who have lost loved ones in Iraq, Iraq Veterans Against the War holds a powerful claim among peace groups as ones who can speak from experience about the consequences of the war. Together, they will be front and center among the scores of peace groups that are hoping to keep the war -- and its repercussions -- in the public consciousness.

Peace groups have been relatively quiet in recent months, especially after President Bush's reelection. But antiwar leaders say they are on the verge of reemerging. Leaders of dozens of peace groups plan to meet in St. Louis this weekend to plot strategies for a new push against the war, from ad campaigns to long-term, grass-roots organizing. They plan to use March 19 and 20, the anniversary weekend of the war's start, as the beginning of an all-out effort to convince the public that the best course for Americans and Iraqis is for the war to end and the troops to come home....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32902-2005Feb17.html?sub=AR

...this will turn into a large-scale ferment that will transform US politics and society. People are really being radicalized by this even now, and that's good thing.

"Defeating President Bush is a life or death matter." REM's Mike Mills

"Sadness for my children who have to grow up in a country where much of what we consider essential freedoms are disappearing." Peter Buck

Whackster from his agenda. I fear that his mind is already made up.

I hope I'm wrong.:scared:

Everyone keeps saying "Well, the Americans wouldn't stand for a war with massive casualities so there's no way they'll start any more wars".

So freaking what...* doesn't give a rats ass what the people think. Even with his abysmal approval rating, he's still steamrolling along and enough of the sheeple are either drugged, in denial, or in agreement that he'll just keep going.

And he still has enough kool-aid drinking sheep who support him, add to that a military that refuses to acknowledge any wrong doing, and continues to allow some in uniform to violate the Geneva Conventions.

Add all of this up and even a blind man can see that history is repeating itself, it may be slower, but if not stopped, it will have the same outcome, only this time Americans will pay for the arrogance of its' government and the military that supports it.

,...and inciting a world war abroad.

Yes. The neoCONspirators really are that radical and that ambitious.

The ONLY thing that will stop them is a combination of OUR ("the people's") wave of opposition, outside forces and forces within the government.

I still believe that combination CAN STOP this fatalistic tyranny,...however, I also believe that the neoCONspirators are capable of doing whatever it takes,..."to win" and execute their extremist agenda.

We are in for some rough days ahead.

I can only say that I take great comfort knowing everything in life is temporary. I TAKE even greater comfort in: enjoying a hug from my son: feeling the warmth of an old, OLD cat that purrs in my lap: feeling appreciated by a couple of dogs that jump for joy everytime I come home; lapping up my every conversation with my closest friends; absorbing the sun shining on my face and waking me up each morning; never taking for granted the clothes on my back, roof over my head, food in my mouth;...and always exercising the power of my a voice that cannot be suppressed by fascist assholes even if I have to use trickery to overcome their bullydom.

I fight for the right of every human being to be acknowledged as a valuable human being. I fight against those who PROFIT from pitting humans against humans, pit Americans against Americans, pit Christianity against Islam or Jews or Hindus or Buddhists or any religious preference, pit nation against nation,...ALL FOR POWER UNTO THEMSELVES!!!!

There are challenging days ahead. So, what else is new?

Frankly, I think it's time for us to get comfortable with and confident about the challenge imposed upon us. Let's get over the "it sucks and hurts" thingy,...and just take on the task of overpowering a destructive force which has incited HISTORIC HUMAN REJECTION,...

...the tough get going! That was quite a post.

I spend too much time getting bent over what Bush does, and I don't spend enough time enjoying the simple things in life that I appreciate.

It's pretty scary though, sometimes I think that the more people openly protest Bush's war-mongering, the quicker he will get on with it.:nuke:

Not that I think that people should not protest, because I think they should. He's just becoming all too predictable.:scared:

I really wish it was easier to immigrate to another country!

full of wisdom for us all.

Saw Steve Earle in concert this week, he was imploring the audience to get back out in the street, not just against the Iraq war, but against this administration's policy of continuous war. He actually made me feel hopeful again. I've had such a bad feeling, sort of a broad cynicism about the multitude of evils being perpetrated by BushCo, but I think the war policy is the focal point, and I'm ready to get angry and active again. And I hope the movement is huge.

I will probably be in NYC on March 19, the night after seeing Steve in concert again, so I'll be fired up.

Earle is right on! We have to take to the streets and let the world know that we do not stand for this Bu$h*t corporate government. We have to do it in such a way that will turn this madness around. It may be our last stand if we don't. See you in San Francisco, March 19th!

I love that song!:)

Steve has made it a staple of his current tour, during the encore. The pre-song patter is about how in the lead up to this war, we had the biggest worldwide anti-war protests ever, and it's about time to get back in the streets to protest the corrupt war-mongering policies of this administration.