Countering the Iraq War Spinners

Almost eight years ago, I made my
way to DC to meet up with Medea Benjamin and a few other friends to talk
about what we could do to stop the Bush administration's insane push
toward invading an innocent country: Iraq. The next morning, eight of us
were in front of the White House, on the steps of Congress and in the
hearing for the resolution on Iraq; the day ended with two of us in
jail. Our message was US Inspectors, Not US War. We had read articles
about how the White House had been dreaming the invasion up over the
summer and was waiting until September to push it because "you don't
launch a new product in August." People's lives were at stake, and they
were treating war like the release of a new sports car.

We started CODEPINK in a desperate attempt to try to stop the war
in Iraq. We vigiled outside the White House for five months, taking our
message and outrage to the halls of Congress, press conferences and
every invasion sales pitch we could gain entry to. We met with Nancy
Pelosi, who told us she had a briefing with a Florida Senator that
convinced her that there were no weapons of mass destruction. As the
Democratic Whip she boldly broke with leadership to oppose the war.
Sadly, her words were without action. The resolution swept through the
committee hearing; we sat and listened with horror to Democrats arguing
for the war, their arguments terrifyingly ungrounded in any real facts.
Bush wanted to release his shiny new sports car and no one in Congress
had the guts to say "This car is dangerous, it's way too expensive, it
doesn't have any brakes, and it can only end in tragedy." Congress just
sat back and let him have his deadly toy, while we did whatever could to
try to keep it off the road.

While we did not succeed in stopping the invasion, we did spend the
past eight years organizing, mobilizing,
expressing our outrage and exposing
the futility, stupidity and enormous cost of this debacle for both
Iraqis and Americans. We have countered the constant lies spewing out of
the Oval Office, the "think tanks" and the media. We have worked
tirelessly to try to bring our resources back home where they're most
needed--particularly as millions of Americans are turned out of their
homes, people are desperate for jobs, and we need to reconfigure our
entire energy system. By August 31, U.S. troops in Iraq are scheduled
to be reduced to 50,000--marking what we hope will be the beginning of
the end of this catastrophe. The Pentagon and the war supporters will
undoubtedly spin this catastrophic intervention as a success--while Iraq
lies in ruins and thousands of our soldiers have died in vain. Worse
yet, it seems they have learned nothing from the disaster, as we are
repeating it again in Afghanistan. Congress is voting for another $33
billion for the Afghanistan war while our states and cities go bankrupt
and EVERYONE knows there is no military solution.

This insanity will have no end--unless we end it. This faulty
"product" needs to be recalled.

Will you join with CODEPINK and other peace and justice
organizations in sharing your voice during the week of August 25 to
31--the week that most of the US troops will return from Iraq? We need
your help getting out the truth that the Iraq war was based on lies, has
left Iraq in tatters, has drained our resources and MUST NOT be
repeated for years to come in Afghanistan. There are so many who have
paid the price of this crime....so many except those who are
responsible. Sign
up to join our action team for the last week of August; we will
help you with tools and inspiration to write letters to the editor and
op-eds, to call in to radio shows, to educate your colleagues. We need
thousands of voices-yours counts.