Mike Ferner: Funding the War Is Killing the Troops

Mike Ferner: Funding the War Is Killing the Troops
Submitted by BuzzFlash on Thu, 09/27/2007 - 9:31am. Guest Contribution

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Mike Ferner

Interrupting the Empire 30 seconds at a time. . .

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I put on my blue garrison cap with white letters spelling "Veterans For Peace," and stood up with Linda. In unison, we said loudly and clearly, "Congress! Congress! Funding the war is killing our troops. Please stop." About half the members on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives stopped talking and turned to look. We were able to repeat our message a couple more times before the Acting Speaker pounded a gavel and said the magic words to the Sergeant-at-Arms and Capitol Hill Police: "Restore order!"

Within seconds, I felt a strong hand on my arm and heard a voice say, "Sir, come with me!" We accepted his invitation but continued delivering our message on the way out and in the hallway where we were quickly handcuffed and propelled towards the elevator.

After a 30-hour twilight of custody by the Capitol Police, D.C. Metropolitan Police, and finally U.S. Marshals, I appeared before the judge in D.C. Superior Court for less than 5 minutes. My attorney, a third-year law student from the Georgetown Law Clinic successfully rebuffed the prosecutor's request that I be given a "stay away" order preventing me from stepping foot in the several Congressional Office Buildings, the Capitol, and sundry bits of property adjacent to them all. I was told to return for a "status hearing" on October 30, and released on my own recognizance.

That jail experience, although relatively short, was degrading as all jail experiences are intended to be. Going back to Washington D.C. for a status hearing and again for a trial is costly and inconvenient. But let's face it. Many, many people in social justice movements before us have paid much more dearly than we're asked to. For the most part, peace protesters these days aren't being clubbed mercilessly, or disappeared into a gulag of prisons, or tortured when we're arrested. We're not yet under martial law, subject to being swept off the streets at a whim, nor are we being gunned down for protesting. That's why it is so very important that we step forward now, before things get that bad, and demand an end to this war and justice for Iraqis and our returning troops.

Officer Wilson of the Capitol Police, whom I've gotten to know after a couple trips through his booking facility, asked, "Is it worth it? You know you're not going to stop the war." I have to admit that just that morning on my way to the Capitol I considered saying "the hell with it" and going home. I had just been arrested September 15 with 200 others on the grounds of the Capitol. I knew this next arrest would entail an overnight stay in the D.C. Metro Police lockup and more trips to Washington for court appearances. One more arrest wasn't going to end the war. But I thought of the absolute hell experienced by the people of Iraq and the relative hell experienced by our soldiers occupying them; of the physical and mental anguishes they suffer and will continue to suffer for years to come; of the culpability I share in this criminal war. The logic seemed simple and clear to me: this was something I could do, therefore I must do it. In trying to end this war using nonviolence, such actions are among the most significant a person can take. So I answered Officer Wilson, "Yes, it's worth it," and tried unsuccessfully to explain my position to someone with a very different view of the world.

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http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/contributors/1340

Because it's worth it.