[NYTr] Join Iraq Vets - March Against the War Fri Sep 15, Wash, DC

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[Note: because the Sept 15th site is blacklisted by at least one
net-nanny-style international blocklist for technical (or other?)
reasons, we have substituted the word [dot] in place of the decimal
point in the reference to it below. This is to avoid a rash of bounces
and rejected mail from users who permit the blacklists to block their
mail based on the content of the body of the message. We have written to
the site admins to notify them of the problem in detail and encouraged
them to get themselves de-listed, although with only 5 days left, they
may not be able to or care. -NY Transfer]

sent by Kevin B. Zeese 

JOIN IRAQ VETS IN THE HISTORIC MARCH AGAINST THE IRAQ WAR
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER  15, 2007

The People vs. the Establishment: Peace March on September 15
Scares the Powers that Be Because the People Have The Power to End the
War 

By Kevin Zeese

The Washington, DC establishment is coming to a conclusion -- we're 
staying in Iraq. There is only one thing that can change that
conclusion -- the power of the people.  The March against the war,
scheduled for September 15th, is a unique opportunity for anti-war
activists to stand in coalition with Iraq Veterans who oppose the war
and have taken the lead on this historic march.

If you have not made plans to be in Washington, DC on September 15th 
make them now.  The establishment wants the people to go away, to give 
up in the midst of the hopelessness of the two-party, corporate 
government.  The Democrats are joining the Republicans to ensure Iraq
is the center of U.S. military and political operations until oil runs
out in the Middle East. 

You can see the fear of the people in the overreaction to efforts to 
advertise the September 15th event.  Last week federal police 
manhandled Marine Mom Tina Richards and Adam Kokesh, co-chair of Iraq 
Vets Against the War, arresting them for putting up posters about the 
demonstration (link to video below). This comes after $35,000 dollars
in fines being levied against organizers of the protest. These actions
show the establishment fears of the people and should encourage people
to turn out and use their power.  A big turnout on the 15th is
standing in the way of plans to keep U.S. military and corporations in
Iraq for the rest of our lives and they are doing their best to
suppress the turnout.

They should be afraid.  The 15th is going to be a dramatic day that 
kicks off a week of important anti-war advocacy.  At the demonstration 
Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace will be leading a 
giant die-in symbolizing the mass deaths caused by the U.S. military 
action in Iraq.  Sign up to participate in this historic die-in 
http://www.pephost.org/site/Survey?SURVEY_ID=4000&ACTION_REQUIRED=URI_ACTION_USER_REQUESTS

The 15th is a key date because it comes in a week when Washington, DC 
will be buzzing over the congressional testimony of General Petraeus
and Ambassador Crocker on 'progress' in Iraq.  The establishment
political figures in Washington, D.C. are all waiting to hear from
Petraeus even though he has shown himself to be a solid Bush
Republican.  Indeed, before the last presidential election he wrote an
op-ed in the Washington Post proclaiming the progress being made in
Iraq.  See http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/61390/

At that time he was in charge of training Iraqi troops, a project that
has still not been accomplished, despite the rosy picture he painted 3
years ago. Petraeus and Croker will provide the fig leaf that allows
the Democrats to join with the Republicans in continuing the occupation.

According to a Washington Post poll a majority of Americans believe 
Petraeus will exaggerate the 'progress' in Iraq.  They read the 
newspapers and are able to get a glimmer of the truth -- a truth very 
inconsistent then what Petraeus and Crocker will report.  They know
that civilian deaths are rising (See
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090107Y.shtml ) the Green Zone is
shelled on a daily basis (See
http://democracyrising.us/content/view/993/164/ ) often multiple times
each day, Iraq has not met 13 of 18 benchmarks
( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6970150.stm ), U.S. deaths
are up ( See http://icasualties.org/oif/ ) compared to a year ago, and
Iraqis are without electricity
( http://democracyrising.us/content/view/965/164/ ), water
( http://democracyrising.us/content/view/1033/164/ ), oil, food,
medicine and living an unbearable life forcing millions to leave the
country and millions more to be internally displaced.  But when the
Petraeus-Crocker duo sing their rosy tune it will provide Congress with
the cover to give Bush another $190 billion to continue the occupation.

The September 15th demonstration is the beginning of a week of actions 
( http://www.pephost.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8555 ) that
will culminate in a major action on the 20th 
( http://www.iraqpledge.org/index.html ).  September 15th and the 
following week is bringing together a broad coalition of anti-war
groups because we all recognize that this is the key time for the peace 
movement to let elected officials know that continuing the occupation
of Iraq is unacceptable.

If you oppose the war, this is the pivotal week to participate. Your 
voice is needed.  Come to Washington, DC and join in these events.  The 
military-corporate establishment has shown it fears the people. Let's 
show them they are right to do so.  It is time for the majority of 
Americans to get what they want -- a rapid end to the occupation of
Iraq.

For more information visit: "September 15th March on Washington"
website at http://sept15[dot]org .  Video of the arrest of Adam Kokesh
and Tina Richards at http://youtube.com/watch?v=5EAfPgX7gs0.

[Kevin Zeese is executive director of Voters for Peace 
at http://www.votersforpeace.us  and executive 
director of Democracy Rising (www.DemocracyRising.US at 
http://www.democracyrising.us/ ]