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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (March 27, 2003)
BY TAI MOSES, AlterNet ❤ WISH FOR PEACE ❤ Dark Days As war on Iraq unfolds, peace activists persevere. T THANK YOU for your continued support through difficult times . . . ❤ OUR FAMILY IS GRATEFUL ❤ ❤ Twirl on by for a PIECE of the PIE! ❤ Check out our weekly sales! Mon-Sat 10-8/ Sun 12-5 Corner of 11th & Willamette In the ❤ of Downtown Eugene n Da could create more than a million refugees in he bombardment of Baghdad has Iraq and neighboring countries. Sixty percent begun. of Iraq’s population depends for basic suste- Despite the vocal opposition of nance on the oil-for-food program, which was millions of Americans, President George W. suspended as soon as Bush issued his ultima- Bush declared war on Iraq at 10:15 pm EST tum. Online donations can be made to the March 19. Explosions from the first U.S. air U.N.’s World Food Programme, Aid interna- strikes rocked the suburbs and the city center tional, Oxfam America, and Working Assets of the Iraqi capitol in the early morning Iraqi Emergency Relief Fund. hours of March 20. And what of the troops? All who paid attention to “Honor our Troops, Bring the obsessive manner in them Home, Peace Is which Bush pursued his Patriotic,” reads the mar- course knew in their quee on my local movie hearts that war was in- theater. We wholeheart- evitable, that inspec- edly support the idea of tions were never meant protecting the lives of to work, that a diplo- our soldiers by bringing matic solution was never them safely home. Our a real priority. Yet, as opposition to the war is footage of the air based on respect for strikes flashed across human life, be it an Iraqi our television screens, grandmother or a pri- we were heartbroken, When someone questions vate in the U.S. army. angry and fearful — fearful for the Iraqi the patriotism of antiwar But we do not support people, for the stability protesters, remind them of the mission these sol- diers have been sent on: of the Middle East, and the administration’s to kill thousands of for the future of our hypocrisy. Iraqis. So how can we in own country as it good conscience honor charts its dangerous, the military? unpopular course toward imperialism. Our own commander-in-chief has shown Still, people are in the streets, protesting little respect for the men and women he has and chanting and committing civil disobedi- sent into harm’s way. Even as Bush has or- ence, staging die-ins and sit-ins and walk-outs, dered more than 200,000 troops into combat, phoning, faxing and e-mailing their represen- the Republicans in the House Budget tatives, circulating petitions, marching and Committee voted to cut $25 billion from the showing no sign of letting up. The massive en- Department of Veterans Affairs’ budget over ergy and momentum that went into the antiwar the next 10 years; just when wounded or ill movement over the past few months is being Gulf War II combat vets are sure to need bene- funneled into continued and vigorous action. fits the most. This is unprecedented; it is al- Millions have signed up at www.MoveOn.org ways difficult to get money for vets in peace- and put lights in their windows to signal their time, but to slash veterans’ pensions and dis- ongoing commitment to antiwar work. Protest ability compensation at the beginning of a war campaigns organized by the broad coalition defies belief. So when someone questions the Win Without War and United for Peace and patriotism of antiwar protesters, remind them Justice are in full swing. of the administration’s hypocrisy. Our visible efforts will let our friends, in What to do with our discouragement, our Europe and Asia and Latin America and horror, our exhaustion? If you have invested everywhere else where people have declared any of your energy and heart in resisting the their opposition to the war, know that war efforts of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et al., Americans continue to stand with them in sol- depression is going to be your occasional idarity despite the actions of our government. companion. We can try to avoid despair in But as intent as we are on the work of wag- these dark times by recognizing that we each ing peace, we must also turn our attention to have a valuable place in the continuum that is the future, because we have another vital mis- the struggle for peace, which has existed as sion to fulfill next year. Starting today, we long as there has been war. “It is not necessary must set our sights on this goal: regime change for you to complete the work, but neither are in the White House in November 2004. If you free to desist from it,” said the Talmudic nothing else, Bush taught us a useful lesson; sage Rabbi Tarphon. persistence in the face of overwhelming oppo- There is a roar of protest around the world sition. If we employ the same resolute, stub- that is rising in volume even now. One month born determination he used to push our nation ago, many of us took part in the largest coordi- into war, we will surely prevail in the 2004 nated single-day antiwar demonstration in the presidential election. history of the world. Bush did not listen to us, And what now, as the bombs pound but we heard each other. When the wartime Baghdad and terrified residents cower, as a blues begin to get you down, remember: There new generation of American soldiers experi- is a one-term president in the White House, ences the horror of killing other human beings. and that good fight has just begun. What now? ew Uppermost in our minds should be our re- Tai Moses is senior editor of AlterNet sponsibility to help feed and care for those (www.alternet.org). who will bear the brunt of this war, which ck le Or Excludes Discounted Items and Liquid Formulas MARCH 27, 2003 9
