Break Time Is Over: Building Nonviolent Resistance to the 2008 Iraq War Supplemental
On August 6, Congress begins its month long recess. August 6 also marks the start of Year 62 After Hiroshima-the one and only time that nuclear weapons were used. And it marks Year 17 After Iraq Sanctions, when the brutal economic sanctions regime against Iraq was first imposed by the international community.
On August 6, the Occupation Project will launch a reinvigorated campaign of sustained nonviolent civil disobedience / civil resistance to end Iraq war funding. Office occupations-both legal and extralegal-will commence at the offices of Representatives and Senators who refuse to publicly pledge to vote against any additional funding of the Iraq war. Occupations will continue at least through the end of September. The Occupation Project will work in conjunction with campaigns organized by Declaration of Peace, National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance, CODEPINK, Veterans for Peace, Grassroots America for Us and others.
The hottest weather of the year occurs in August. Let us commit to creating the hottest political weather: focused upon Congress to force an end to the Iraq war. Let us commit to forcing Congress to vote down the $145 billion being sought in supplemental spending to wage the Iraq - Afghanistan war through September of 2008. Let us commit to forcing Congress to force the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of this year.
Let us commit to using every nonviolent means at our disposal to defeat the Iraq war supplemental spending bill for 2008 and to bring every U.S. soldier home from Iraq by the end of this year.
Last fall, in Panora, Iowa social justice advocates discussed ways to bring the occupation of Iraq home to the offices of Representatives and Senators. The Occupation Project grew from these discussions. From February 5 through Tax Day, over 320 arrests occurred at the offices of 39 Representatives and Senators across the country. 15 of the 39 voted against the final Iraq war supplemental spending bill that Congress passed in May. 14 of the 15 who voted against the final bill had voted in favor of the Iraq war spending bill last year. Actions occurred at the offices of both Republicans and Democrats-challenging the reality that both parties are responsible for the ongoing war.
Meanwhile, sustained campaigns of office occupations that did not result in arrests took place in such diverse locations as Nashville, Tennessee (the birthplace of the Occupation Project); Huntsville, Alabama; Seattle, Washington; San Francisco, California; and across the state of Minnesota. Social justice advocates entered the offices on a weekly basis (and, in the case of Sacramento, CA, on a daily basis) and occupied the offices, pressing the demand that the Representative or Senator commit to voting against any additional funding for the war.
These next three months are critical to ending the war in and occupation of Iraq. Through the end of July, Grassroots America for Us ( www.grassrootsamerica4us.org ) is organizing the Swarm on Congress, intensive and extensive lobbying on Capitol Hill. In August, we must turn up the heat on Representatives and Senators while they are in their home districts and states for the month long recess.
In early September, General Petraeus will report to Congress on the progress-or lack thereof-that is being made in Iraq. Shortly after, the House will vote on HR 2451 as an amendment to the Iraq - Afghanistan war supplemental spending bill. Next the House will vote on the final version of the $145 billion war supplemental for FY 2008, and send it to the Senate for consideration. It will be a one-two punch vote. It is entirely probable that the final version of the supplemental spending bill will not be publicly available until less than 24 hours prior to the vote (the final version of the supplemental passed in May was not publicly available until the morning of the vote).
H.R. 2451 (sponsored by David Obey and Jim McGovern) requires that the redeployment of U.S. forces out of Iraq begin within 90 days of enactment. The partial redeployment is to be completed by June 30, 2008.
HR 2451 will keep U.S. troops in Iraq to: protect the U.S. embassy and diplomatic personnel; protect U.S. forces remaining in Iraq; engage in “target special actions limited in duration and scope to killing or capturing members of al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations with global reach”; and to train and equip the Iraqi Security Forces. Erik Leaver of the Institute for Policy Studies examined nearly identical language in March 2007 and concluded that it would allow for upwards of 40,000 to 60,000 U.S. troops to remain in Iraq. (http://ips-dc.org/iraq/suppleme
Our demand must remain clear: end all funding for the Iraq war and withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of this year. The language of HR 2451 is not sufficient.
And what of the argument that a vote against the $145 billion supplemental spending for 2008 will further endanger the well-being of U.S. troops currently deployed in Iraq? U.S. troops will not be in danger when the U.S. withdraws the troops from Iraq. $36 billion of this $145 billion will be for the procurement of ammunition, weapons systems and combat vehicles that will not be delivered to the military until 1 to 3 years has passed. The Army seeks $46 billion for “operations and maintenance” to fund its actions at current levels through September 30, 2008-a sure way to place U.S. soldiers and Iraqi citizens in further danger. (see “Iraq and Afghanistan Supplemental Spending 2008″ at www.vcnv.org for an in-depth analysis of the 2008 war funding request).
Recall that the President is seeking $482 billion for the baseline military budget for 2008. That’s an 11 percent increase over the current year’s budget-and nearly 62% more than was spent on the military in 2001. The money is clearly available to safely and quickly withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of this year.
It is easy to be discouraged and lose heart after Congress passed the Iraq war bill in May. It is easy to be tempted to give up completely on the legislative process.
But giving up on the legislative process is, indeed, the easy route to take. It is the route that ensures that the Iraq war will continue as a war without end.
Instead, we should intensify our legal and extralegal lobbying efforts. We should recognize that nearly twice as many Representatives voted against the supplemental this year than last year and that, for the first time, Senators voted against an Iraq war supplemental spending bill because of their opposition to the war’s continuation (Arlen Specter voted against the supplemental in 2006 was because he did not believe it provided sufficient funds for a medical program). We should maintain pressure upon those Representatives and Senators who voted against the final war supplemental spending bill-working to ensure that they again vote against war funding this fall.
We should also recognize that the only way that this war will be ended is if we organize to exert sufficient pressure on Republicans and Democrats to force an end to war funding. With this in mind, we should recognize the tricks of the parliamentary trade and demand that David Obey and Nancy Pelosi do more to end the war. But we should also recognize that had Obey bottled up the war supplemental in committee or Pelosi refused to allow a floor vote, Jerry Lewis (as ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee) would have submitted his own version of a war supplemental and obtained 218 signatures on a discharge petition to force his version to be voted upon in the House.
Ending the war requires pressure on both Democrats and Republicans-both via legal lobbying and nonviolent civil disobedience / resistance.
Multiple efforts and allied campaigns are underway to force an end to the war in and occupation of Iraq. Become engaged with these efforts and organize locally.
· Join the efforts of the Swarm on Congress, an intensive and extensive lobbying effort in Washington, D.C. through the end of July initiated by Grassroots America for Us ( http://www.grassrootsamerica4us
· Organize local actions with the Occupation Project campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience / civil resistance / office occupations to demand that Representatives and Senators vote to end to all funding for the Iraq war. A reinvigorated campaign will be launched on August 6 to continue through the vote on war funding in September. Get involved at http://vcnv.org/project/the
· CODEPINK’s ( www.codepinkalert.org) work includes the Occupation Project and the Don’t Buy Bush’s War campaigns (among other critical work to end the war).
· Join the Declaration of Peace campaign efforts. DoP will be lobbying Representatives and Senators through the summer, culminating with a week of actions nationally during the critical week of September 14 to 21. Visit www.declarationofpeace.org
· Participate in the efforts of the National Campaign of Nonviolent Resistance (NCNR) as it challenges the war in Iraq through nonviolent direct action. NCNR has organized actions at military recruiting centers, Congressional offices, the Pentagon and weapons manufacturers. Visit www.iraqpledge.org.
· Participate in the legislative network of United for Peace and Justice as well as its nonviolent direct action working group to force an end to the war. Visit www.unitedforpeace.org
Time is short to end funding for the Iraq war. And the costs are immeasurably high each day that the war continues. Much organizing work remains to be done.
Break time is over.
Jeff Leys is Co-Coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence and a national organizer with the Occupation Project campaign. He can be reached via email, jeffleys@vcnv.org.
The only problem with this theory is it ASSUMES that said Senators and Reps will DO what they SAY they will. What is the point in getting a bunch of liars to tell us what we want to hear.
Even if its another lie??
The Democrats , and a few RepubliNazis have been saying for the last 6 mos that they are going to “hold the president accountable”, or when they campaigned on a platform of “Ending the War”.
There is no policy diffrence between the Democrats and the administration. The Dems have no INTENTION of leaving Iraq either.
But ya what IS the big diffrence??
Republicans will say it to youre face, that the war is going to continue.
A Democrat?? Too spineless to do that, they tell ya what ya wanna hear until election time is over.
then they do the same exact thing the RepubliNazi administration would.
And thats why the changes that need to occur in our government go far deeper than anyone is willing to admit . and I dont know if there is anyone alive up to the challenge of articulating and facilitating that change. A Third Party, REAL campaign reforms and on and on and on.
“August 6 also marks the start of Year 62 After Hiroshima-the one and only time that nuclear weapons were used.”
This line is not accurate. In the decades after Hiroshima (and Nagasaki) hundreds of above and below-ground nuclear explosions were conducted around the world, spewing incalculable radiation and causing numerous deaths, disease and damage to the environment that will last for eons.
In Russia and the Ukraine, thousands of square kilometers have become dead zones because of explosions in the Ural Mountains and Chernobyl, not to mention the Hanford area of Washington, Savannah, Georgia, parts of Idaho, Arizona, Texas, Utah, California and on. Dead zones for thousands of years.
The US and Israeli militaries and others now regularly use depleted uranium, which becomes a highly toxic radioactive agent upon dispersion. Check out the Balkans, Afghanistan, Lebanon et al for the gruesome details if you have the guts.
Nope, for all their well-documented horrors, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were only the beginning of an on-going nuclear war against the people and environment of this planet.
The foregoing comments are valid but less useful than the author’s proposal. While we express our objections to the present mockery that masquerades as democratic government in our country, we can also take positive actions which at least have some possibility of achieving our goals of peace and justice. What alternative is there, other than resorting to the violent means that we purport to decry?
Tj, I think the author meant the first time nuclear weapon was used to indiscriminately kill people.
Richard young, I totally agree with you. That’s the only thing we can now do, and we should take advantage of it, regardless of the outcome. I will join the party and hope other folks do too.
You want grassroots America? Join the Greens! They’ve been grassroots America and the rest of the world for years.
Salia and tj, you are both correct. I’m really glad you brought it up tj. I wish everyone would also read the June 13 article about the Ill workers at the nuclear power facility. Read the number six (6) blog by Paul Magill. If that does not frighten you, nothing on this planet will, and he has plenty of backup data to verify his writing.
Depleted Uranium is almost as bad as plutonium and we have dumped about 300 tons or so of that deadly poison in Iraq and more in daily testing of weapons in our own country. It is not a joke, it is a most serious problem for all of us and our children and for the ecology of the planet. We should be having fits about it, but it is seldom ever spoken of.
If it is true that the military-industrial complex is in fact the military-industrial-Congressional complex (the latter being the complete form of the phrase coined by Dwight Eisenhower, as we now know from his recently published manuscripts), and if most of Congress stands in tight collusion with the military and the corporations (including the new mercenary corporations such as Blackwater), then it would seem to me that actions such as the ones proposed in the above article will never achieve anything.
What needs to be sundered is the perverse connection between the majority of the Congressional members and the military-industrial network and its lobbies.
How about this?
OAKLAND, CA: Antiwar protesters marched into the Port of Oakland on Saturday, May 19 and picketed a war profiteer, SSA (Stevedoring Services of America). “The war is for profit–Longshore workers can stop it,” read our signs and banners. We asked the longshoremen to honor our picket line, and they did. One ship sat unloaded at the dock, and two more ships waited in the harbor. Cargo did NOT move that day.
The demonstration was organized by the Oakland Port Action Committee. Themes and issues of the action were: Stop the shipping of war materiel. Bring the troops home now, and give them the healthcare they need. Port money for schools and social services.
It was at this very same SSA Terminal that protesters and longshoremen were attacked by police four years ago, on April 7, 2003, when 59 people were injured. Fortunately, this time all went well, and the war profiteer was successfully shut down for two shifts.
This does not happen often–not every year, not every decade. Possibly not even during the war in Vietnam. It was more than just another major news story; it was an historical event. Several TV and radio stations reported it, but the print media somehow missed it.
Congress reminds me of a saying a guy I worked with had. They don’t know ’sickem’ from come here.
Bu$h the inferior reminds me of a saying; from a another guy who would watch someone do something insane and say, “They ain’t got em all locked up.”
That pretty much covers politics and government in America.
The anti-war movement cannot get traction this time, because those who were active in it last time have seen the country only get worse. This time it seem sbest to stand back and let America continue on its destructive course. If left to it this administration and corrupt congress will destroy the American economy and constitution. Since the Americans deserve that, and it will be in the long-run best interest of the rest of the world for them to be knocked off their high horse, why interfere? What more ecologically beneficient event could occur than destroying the American economy? Iraq and Afghanistan have already been destroyed. Let them at least have the satisfaction of helping destroy their tormentor.
We don’t need a 3rd party - WE NEED A 2nd PARTY !
Luke: I am afraid you may well be right.
The citizenry is either not willing or not able to break Congress’s self-incurred tutelage to the military-industrial mafia.
It would seem that the depletion of the world’s oil ressources; the astronomical debt being accumulated both by the federal government and the citizenry (credit card madness, loans, mortgages, etc.); the wasteful, suicidal, and absurd militarist adventures; and the massive corruption of the leaders will eventually break the country.
Luke, I went to look at your photographs of Afghanistan; they are beautiful, and so are the landscapes and the architecture they reveal. Terrible, what these folks have been enduring at the hands of foreigners…
Has anyone ever suggested to the democratically controlled congress, now after two supplemental requests from Bush to provide $$ for the war, have been vetoed by Bush, to simply say to Bush, “OK, no more $$, we are not going to provide any more supplementals. So, Mr. War President and Commander in Chief, use what money is still in kitty to pay the expenses to get our troops home.” Simple as that.