Six years of war sparks hundreds of actions

Thursday marks six years since the "shock and awe" invasion rocked Iraq and the US kept the world safe from Saddam Hussein's non-existent weapons of mass destruction.

Dick Cheney continues to insist we "won" the war in Iraq because there is a new democratic government there. There's also a new Democratic government here, and that, too, is in large part a result of the invasion and occupation.

The Obama administration isn't talking about a 100-year war, as John McCain did. Right now, it's not quite three more years until all US troops leave -- and move to Afghanistan.

So why are the antiwar groups demonstrating? Are they never satisfied?

Well, I'm not, and I hope you're not, either. We need to keep the pressure on, to speed the Iraq withdrawal that currently plans to leave 50,000 troops there, and to stop the escalation in a guaranteed losing effort in Afghanistan.

Events across the country this week will mark the anniversary itself on Thursday. Friday is the Iraq Moratorium observance held on the Third Friday of every month, and Saturday is the day for marches in Washington, California -- and Milwaukee.

Wisconsin, where I live, is a hotbed of antiwar activity, and organizers have planned at least 24 events that I know of, and others that I don't.

Around the country there are hundreds of events. Many are listed on the Iraq Moratorium website and others at United for Peace and Justice or ANSWER.

Join them if you can.

It ain't over till it's over.

That's where our money goes, and it ain't buying our babies clothes

This chart represents the U.S. discretionary budget - for last year. It does not include the bailout or the massive increase Congress voted overwhelmingly to give the Pentagon for this year, according to NotMyPriorities.org.

Actions this week, marking the sixth anniversary of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, are an excellent time to make the connections and call for spending on human needs.

Organizers in San Francisco have created a postcard with the pie chart on one side and a message to President Obama on the other. They're calling for a 25 per cent cut in military spending. Here are the specifics:

Join the Iraq Moratorium Campaign. Thursday, March 19, will be the sixth anniversary of the Iraq occupation. Cut the Military Budget by 25% End the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan Now. Jobs, Education and Health Care, Not War! United for Peace and Justice of the Bay Area is coordinating broad actions on that “unhappy birthday” with a call to Congress and the President to DEFUND war and REFUND domestic programs, including very specific social needs in our own neighborhoods. The plan is to provide a strong public presence during commute and noon hours at most of the BART stations and transit hubs in the Bay Area. Many activist and social advocacy organizations are coming forward to take responsibility for a BART station; we have 18 covered. Join the Iraq Moratorium Campaign at the Montgomery BART station from 11:30 am to 1 pm Thursday March 19. We will do outreach to the public in the area, hold banners, read the names of the dead, offer postcards and petitions to passer-by to sign, and more. IMC will organize a nonviolent direct action. If you can participate, Email us.

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An open letter to MoveOn.org

(Dennis O'Neil , a veteran of decades of antiwar work, was one of the original organizers of the Iraq Moratorium in 2007 and remains a member of the Moratorium's national core committee.)

As one of MoveOn's 3.2 million members and a participant of some years' standing in MoveOn vigils, living room events, online activities, etc., I opened yesterday's MoveOn email from Nita Chaudhary with considerable interest. It was entitled, simply, "Iraq."

My interest quickly turned to shock and then anger.

Your letter does a grave, grave disservice to the anti-war movement in this country. And it does so just when the movement, already fatigued after six years of protest, is facing a whole new set of challenges and not having an easy time adjusting.

One big problem with your letter is that it treats a Presidential promise to have all troops out of Iraq by the beginning of 2012 (almost three years from now) as a clear sign that the war is all but over, even though not a single soldier has been withdrawn yet and the killing and dying continue apace. Accompanied by a slide show of images of anti-war protest, it is valedictory in tone:

We wanted to take a moment to reflect on the work that you've done over the last six, dark years—-trying first to prevent the war before it happened and then working tirelessly to end it—-to thank you, sincerely, for all you have done.

This moment is possible because of you, and millions of people like you across our movement.

The email immediately goes on to urge us to contribute to a fund to help injured veterans, as if that was the main thing left to worry about. Yes, there's a vague cautionary note further in: "Of course our troops aren't home yet" and a grudging recognition that Congress is right to "raise questions" about the pace of withdrawal.

Which brings me to the other big problem. One reason the troops won't, in fact, be coming home any time soon is because a lot of them are being shipped to Afghanistan, 17,000 deploying directly. That's on top of the 34,000 soldiers and Marines already there. And the additional 17,000 look to be only a down payment on an expanded occupation for which no one in the government can identify a strategy. Or goals. Or an exit plan.

And this letter says not one mumbling word about it!

I don't know enough to speculate on the whys of this all. I simply observe that encouraging your millions of members to act as though the US is no longer is no longer at war, or as though there is no longer a crying need for anti-war protest, is worse than irresponsible.

The anti-war movement will continue, of course, and adjust. There are groups and projects at the national, regional and local levels that will keep up the fight until these unjust and unjustifiable occupations are ended. Just the locally-based, grassroots project I spend most of my time on, the Iraq Moratorium, will sponsor scores of events this month around the sixth anniversary of the war, mostly in rural areas, suburbs and smaller cities.

I am certain that I am not alone in hoping that MoveOn will come around and put its shoulder to the wheel. Soon. There is work to do.

Dennis O'Neil
New York City