HEADING TO CAMP DEMOCRACY

  I am going kayaking with my friend Bob Lezer this morning. We've been talking lately about going but our lives always seem too busy. It should be beautiful to be out in the bay this morning, a bit foggy, which will only make it more appealing.

I head to Washington DC late this afternoon so I can speak at Camp Democracy at mid-day on Saturday. I will be talking about the necessity of converting the military industrial complex.

The idea of Camp Democracy is a very exciting one as we now see legions of American people figuring out that the war in Iraq is a disaster. Average people have now become certain that the $8.5 billion a month is a huge waste of our diminishing national treasury. They understand that health care, childcare, mass transit, education, and more could be funded with the money being wasted on this war. Yes it is true that the war is very profitable for oil corporations, weapons corporations, and certain politicians who get nice donations from these big industries. But for the rest of us it is nothing but a losing proposition.

And for the people of Iraq it is nothing but endless chaos. The Washington Post reports today that, "Baghdad's morgue almost tripled its count for violent deaths in Iraq's capital during August from 550 to 1,536, authorities said Thursday, appearing to erase most of what U.S. generals and Iraqi leaders had touted as evidence of progress in a major security operation to restore order in the capital."

Bush is out running around the country trying to scare up votes for the November elections but even rank-and-file Repubs are turning on him. I saw an interview with a retired Marine officer last night on TV who lives in North Carolina and voted twice for Bush. He says now that he can't watch him on TV - he has to turn it off. (I can relate to the feeling.) So the Bush story is wearing thin.

Great opportunity you say for the Dems!!!!!

Well, also last night on TV, I watched John Kerry interviewed on Hardball and this is what he said. I'm paraphrasing here - We are not going to cut and run. We are going to redeploy into safer territory (Kuwait and highly defended permanent bases inside Iraq). The U.S. would use "over the horizon forces" (Air Force and Special Forces) to maintain control of Iraq working in conjunction with the Iraq government (our puppets).

Bottom line this is the Murtha plan. It does not mean an end to the war in Iraq. It does not mean an end to the violence. It does not mean defund the Iraq war. It is just a Democratic party shell game to create the illusion that we are pulling out while in fact it means we are just "pulling back", reducing the numbers of troops on the street getting hit with IED's, but the war goes on otherwise.

It is my hope that events like Camp Democracy and other anti-war actions will help to clarify this shell game for those who are now entering the peace movement. It would be a shame if folks fell for this pull back - thinking it was an end to the occupation of Iraq.