Today marks the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq. Despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens (and indeed, world citizens) want the war to end, despite the fact that U.S. forces are being defeated by the Iraqi resistance, Bush recently announced plans to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq. These include my younger brother, Chris, who will deploy in April.
My original opposition to the war was my conviction the we must exhaust all non-violent ways of resolving conflict before we even think about resorting to war. My non-violent convictions were bolstered by my belief that the call to war in Iraq was based upon greed (the original name proposed for the military engagement was Operation Iraqi Liberation, until folks recognized the acronym and changed it from “Liberation” to “Freedom”). Then I realized the war wasn’t just based on greed, but upon lies constructed to obscure the motive of greed (weapons of mass destruction, et al). Then my brother joined the military and suddenly I had “skin in the game” and my opposition to the war became personal; I didn’t want my brother to be killed or to become a killer. And now, I realize that this war has digressed into an Iraqi civil war. We have wreaked havoc on an entire region of the world, and as our senior Senator Dick Durbin wrote in a recent letter, the U.S. military cannot win an Iraqi civil war. We need to get out.
For over four years, I have been protesting this war. And today, on this anniversary, I will join with hundreds of thousands of others and march for peace, calling for an end to the war and occupation and demanding that our government bring our troops home now. Won’t you join us?
March for Peace
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
6:00pm - Assembly at Ogden Elementary School (24 W. Walton)
7:30pm - March down Michigan Avenue ending at Daley Plaza
See you tonight!
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