I was in Brattleboro, Vermont yesterday for a regional activist meeting. People came from New Hampshire, New York, Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont. Over 50 folks (nine of us were from Maine) gathered to discuss how we could coordinate and expand our regional efforts to call for impeachment of Bush/Cheney and end the occupation of Iraq, stop the war on Lebanon and prevent an expansion of the U.S./Israeli war into Syria and Iran.
Some of the ideas people came up with were to hold Teach-Ins in the fall at colleges and universities; bird dog Democrats as they run for office this fall asking them tough questions about cutting the funding for the war and their stand on impeachment; support for Camp Democracy in Washington DC; counter recruitment; expanding direct action; holding a regional demonstration (a committee was created to work on this); and organizing speaking tours for Iraqi peace activists.
Following the networking meeting a public demonstration was held in Brattleboro where more than 300 people were in attendance. Following some great music, speeches were heard from various representatives of those who had attended the meeting. I was invited to be one of the speakers.
After a four-hour ride home I discovered that while I had been gone Israel had massacred 57 innocent civilians, including 37 children, in Qana, Lebanon with bombs provided by the U.S. government. The bombing had been launched in the dead of night while the targeted victims were asleep.
Former high-ranking Israeli military officer, now turned peace activist, Uri Avnery says this about Israel’s war on Lebanon, “It is the old story about the losing gambler: he cannot stop. He continues to play, in order to win his losses back. He continues to lose and continues to gamble, until he has lost everything: his ranch, his wife, his shirt.”
Avnery continues, “Condoleezza Rice's stubborn struggle against any attempt to stop the war shows that this is indeed the aim of the United States. From the first day
of George Bush's presidency, the neo-conservatives have been calling for the elimination of Syria. The deeper Bush sinks into the Iraqi quagmire, the more he needs to divert attention with another adventure.”
The deeper the U.S. and Israel (and make no mistake, the world sees the Lebanon war as a joint U.S./Israel war) get into this quagmire the worse it is going to get. There is no victory possible here - only a widening of war and chaos. This is what the U.S. and Israel want. This is the way to Condi Rice’s “New Middle East.” The U.S./Israel strategy is to destroy Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, Iran and Iraq and start all over again. It is the strategy of insanity and it is being done in our name with our tax dollars. We must take responsibility for this madness and stop it now before it gets worse.
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