Although fiercely battling Barack Obama and John Edwards in Iowa, Hillary Clinton is still seen as the nominee apparent by the mainstream media. Peace and justice activists should be terrified by the prospect of a choice between her and any of the front-running Republicans. Why? She has been hawkish in her language regarding Iran, even voting to define Iran’s official army a terrorist organization. That’s a pretext for war.
This past year, military contractors and the defense industry have selected Hillary as their darling. Perhaps mostly spurred on by the media anointment, they’ve been lining up to pour money into her pockets. According to a Huffington Post study, Senator Clinton took in $52,600, more than half of the total going to all Democrats, and a figure equaling 60 percent of the sum going to the entire GOP field. Her closest competitor for defense industry money is former Mitt Romney, who raised $32,000. So you can probably guess whose business interests she will be looking out for.
These are the primary reasons why peace activists will be visiting Hillary’s offices in Des Moines and Arlington, Virginia on the afternoon of January 2nd. We will say to the senator, and her campaign staff, that leaving U.S. military personnel in Iraq through 2013 is not acceptable. Continuing to threaten war against the sovereign nation of Iran is not acceptable. We want a new direction, as a peace and justice movement we want reconciliation, and reinvestment of our tax dollars into reconstruction of not just Baghdad and Fallujah, but of New Orleans and the Mississippi coast.
In early November, Voices for Creative Nonviolence organized two nonviolent direct actions in Des Moines, which resulted in 18 arrests. Peace activists visited the offices of Hillary and Rudy Giuliani. On January 2nd, in conjunction with other groups VCNV will be doing the same in Iowa. Our group in the D.C. area will visit Hillary’s national headquarters in Arlington requesting the senator commit to a set of promises. Groups in New York have considered a similar demonstration at Rudy’s national headquarters there, but it is unclear whether it will materialize.
* Complete withdrawal of the U.S. military forces from Iraq and Afghanistan within 100 days of assuming the office of President of the United States.
* Press Congress for full funding for the reconstruction of Iraq to repair the damage caused over these past 17 years of economic and military warfare that the U.S. and its allies waged against Iraq.
* Press Congress for full funding of the Common Good in the U.S. to rebuild our education and health care systems; to create jobs training programs for jobs that pay a living wage; to provide universal health care for all; to rebuild our country's inner cities, especially New Orleans and the Gulf Coast; and to initiate a campaign on the scale of a new Tennessee Valley Authority and Rural Electrification Project of the Great Depression era to create affordable, safe and sustainable alternative forms of energy and energy consumption; and for other vital social programs.
* Press Congress for full funding for the highest quality health care, education and jobs training benefits for veterans of our country's Armed Services.
* Furthermore, as a member of the United States Senate I will vote against any additional funding for the Iraq war other than those funds that are essential to fund the complete and immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
* Publicly commit to oppose the use of U.S. military forces against Iran, Pakistan or any other opening front in the so-called "war on terror." Join us at Hillary Clinton’s offices in Des Moines and Arlington, Virginia on the afternoon of January 2nd.
