Anti-War Rally Draws 1,500
by Christine Stuart | March 17, 2007 7:37 PM
Posted to Iraq at Home
An estimated 1,500 people from across the state turned out for the Connecticut Opposes the War rally Saturday at the Old State House in Hartford.
They came with mega phones and hand painted signs to hear from a number of elected-officials, military personnel, and clergy about what it will take to put an end to the war. And more importantly, what they can do to help.
CT COW organizer Greg Spear said two members of the Connecticut Congressional delegation have yet to oppose the war: Republican Congressman Chris Shays and Senator Joseph Lieberman, who calls himself an Independent-Democrat.
As soon as Spear announced their names the crowd “booed.”
Spear said “COW is suggesting we go after these guys until they change their minds.” He said the organization is also suggesting the General Assembly pass a resolution condemning the war. Already 117 state legislators have sent a letter to Congress to ask them to end the war, Majority Leader Chris Donovan, D-Meriden, said.
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro said this week the House Appropriations Committee took the first step toward ending the war in Iraq by exercising the Congressional power of the purse. DeLauro was talking about the withdrawal plan attached to the spending legislation that the Bush administration needs to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
She said if the House passes this bill, regardless of the Senate’s inability to take action or threats of a presidential veto, “it will be the first demonstration of the popular will on this war and it won’t stop there.”
Congressman John Larson said next week as well the House Foreign Relations Committee is expected to vote on a resolution that says “we will not invade Iran without Congressional approval.”
By doing this Congress is able to take away the “President’s irresponsible policy of preemption and unilateralism that has failed and has cost our nation’s standing in the world,” Larson said.
Secretary of State Susan Byseiwicz said the hardest thing she’s had to do as Secretary of State is attend 37 funerals for Connecticut soldiers who died in the conflict. “Enough is enough,” she said.
Captain Jorge Rodriguez, who went to Iraq in October of 2004 said he still doesn’t know what his mission was. Major John Kelly, a recent veteran who also was in Iraq said he too wonders why and what America is fighting for.
What he does know is that he does “not recognize or support a patriotism that demands our silence,” he said. “Your presence here today is a statement of support for our troops.”
“Today is an act of faith that we can make a difference,” he concluded.
Comments (5)
Posted by: GreatGooglyMoogly | March 17, 2007 10:57 PM
Captain Rodriguez and Major Kelly couldn't have said it any better... they "don't recognize or support a patriotism that demands our silence."
Amen... war hawks can take that and shove it.
Posted by: Steven G. Erickson | March 19, 2007 7:41 AM
I wonder if the Connecticut State Police secret operatives were there taking pictures to add more names to their "Secret Enemies" list?
Posted by: cedar hill resident | March 19, 2007 1:24 PM
Rosa DeLauro is my hero time and time again! Ct will be spending $1.9 billion in 2007 on this war! that can pay for 648,418 peoples Health Care or many other things. We went there based on a lie and we are staying there for all the wrong reasons. The majority of the people in the US want out and it is time for our employees (the elected officals) to start listening to there bosses!
Posted by: GreatGooglyMoogly | March 19, 2007 10:28 PM
I think it's more complicated than just pulling out our troops. If we leave now, we're basically giving our stamp of approval to a genocide, a genocide that we prompted by removing Saddam. He was a genocider, granted, but there was a status quo that he maintained between the Shiites and Sunnis, and that status quo is gone. Now people are simply being murdered based on their religious background. It's irresponsible, and shortsighted to pull the troops now.
A new president could do 8 things to make Iraq a better place while also restoring America's image and goodwill around the world:
1) Apologize to the world for allowing the neo-cons to push their long-known plan to invade Iraq to fruition as an overreaction to 9-11 and indict the neo-cons who made it happen.
2) Close Guantanamo.
3) Cancel every "private" soldier contract in Iraq (and everywhere else in the world where we pay these people) and make such mercenary activities what they ought to be - illegal. Stop the effort to privatize the military. Failing that, start enforcing the military code on the thugs and make sure they are subject to courtsmartial where appropriate.
4) Investigate Halliburton for fraud.
5) Divide the country into three sections. Ensure that each tribal region gets an equal share of the entire nation's oil reserves & profits.
6) Fortify and secure Baghdad as a demilitarized zone. Make it a place where Kurds, Shiites, and Sunnis can visit and/or do business peacefully and unarmed. Maybe they'll reach a point where people can live there safely together, but that is doubtful.
8) Find Osama bin Laden. We might also do well to change our posture with the Saudis (whose extremists were most responsible for 9-11), but the kingdom's minority gov't is friendly to us so we didn't invade it.
Posted by: GreatGooglyMoogly | March 19, 2007 10:29 PM
OK, 7 seven things. Ugh.