04/24/03: Post by Franklin
Posted by: BLOWBACK
Making its rounds in the internet, worth reading and acting upon...Dear MoveOn Member,The war in Iraq is over; the U.S. occupation of Iraq has now begun. In an unnecessary war, victory is never sweet: American soldiers, Iraqi civilians, and Iraqi soldiers lost their lives in a conflict that never should have happened. That's not victory, that's tragedy. The hawks in the Bush Administration see this as a indication of their belligerent world view. Never mind that we haven't found any weapons of mass destruction; never mind that Iraqi democracy (or even security) is nowhere in sight. The hotter heads have prevailed: pre-emptive unilateralism is now the official policy of the U.S.. Vice President Cheney, Secretary Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and Richard Perle are now thinking even bigger about the "projection of American power." In the chilling words of a senior official close to the Bush Administration, "Anyone can go to Baghdad. Real men go to Tehran."Folks, we just have to stop this madness, and there's really only one way to do that: We need to throw these bums out. The good news is that over the last few months, we've built a base that just may be large enough to succeed. MoveOn's total membership is now over 1.3 million. We've taken out ads, written letters, delivered mountains of petition signatures, and taken action in hundreds of cities. And now we need to turn our attention toward one goal: regime change in the USA, the best way to repudiate Bush's policy of war. Are you in? If you're willing to help show Bush the door in 2004, just click below. We'll count you among the participants in this next phase of the peace movement. http://www.moveon.org/pac/newpresWe'll throw out Bush and the Republicans using every means available: by registering a wave of new voters, by organizing to make sure they get to the polls on election day, by raising enough money to compete with the President's mountain of special interest money, and by volunteering for political campaigns. We'll make it easy for you to play a part. President Bush believes he doesn't have to listen to the American public -- which, even during war, has overwhelmingly been skeptical or strongly resistant to the idea of an American empire. He has decided that his faith in the military takes precedence over his faith in democracy. The election in 2004 is our chance to take our democracy back. Polls show overwhelmingly that American's do not trust President Bush to revive the failing economy. They're just as concerned with the Administration's assault on civil rights, civil liberties and the environment. Last week in New Orleans, Presidential Advisor Karl Rove said that this will be a "close, competitive" race. If all of us get involved, it won't just be tight. We'll win. And that will go down in history. It will demonstrate that we mean what we say -- that we have the passion and the commitment to see our approach to foreign policy through. It will demonstrate that politicians who seek to curry favor through belligerence face political consequences, and that those who advocate a reasonable, multilateral foreign policy will be rewarded. And it will set the stage for an American policy that leads the world into a cooperative and safe future. Let's elect a new President in 2004, and put an end to the politics of unnecessary war. Sincerely, --Carrie, Eli, Joan, Peter, Wes, and Zack The MoveOn Team April 24th, 2003