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The Silent American

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Message Nicholas Chavasse
Last week, America was yet again treated to the ideological ravings of a President still in denial about the magnitude of the foreign policy blunder of Iraq. The central theme, yet again, was to engender fear and paranoia in the American people, with his deranged insistence that the global war on terror is essential to "our safety at home." 9/11 was yet again falsely invoked as the reason for sending over 3,000 brave men and women to their deaths in the shifting-sands of Iraq, and the butchery of over 40,000 Iraqi women and children - innocent victims of both our dictator's faith-based foreign policy, and the unquenchable, immoral thirst of big-oil and war profiteers to feather their nests with green-backs and the crushed corpses of innocents. Bereft of his usually over-confident Texas swagger, it was apparent that even he now senses the mendacity and futility of his own words. Like all those who engage in sustained lies and deception, what may appear as a poorly crafted speech that contradicts his previous statements is simply the inability of his throng of speech writers to keep track of the vast ocean of lies and deception upon which he has based his demagoguery. Republican senator Chuck Hagel observed that Bush's case for "the surge" was based more on "arrogant self-delusion" than the reality of the Iraq quagmire - perhaps more of a "State of Delusion" than a "State of the Union."

However, it is a grave error to suppose that the deep hole in which we find ourselves has been dug with the President's shovel alone, or indeed that the gluttonous war profiteers see it as a hole at all. The special interests that placed him in power have their ideal patsy in his genuine befuddled idiocy. It has on some level become comforting to think of America as the unfortunate victim of one man's ideological incompetence, when nothing could be further from the truth. We have been brought to this stage in history by "the disastrous rise of misplaced power" evident in the unwarranted and unelected influence exerted over every branch of our government by the military-industrial complex. It is sucking blood and treasure from our country like a bloated leech - a gigantic parasite that will kill its host unless we mobilize to destroy it. Our fight at home is with this vast military-industrial complex that drives us to become not the policeman, but the butcher of the world. Under the malign influence of the military-industrial lobbyists, $1.2 trillion has been poured down their gullets by a Congress too frightened to loose campaign contributions and the approval of a media infrastructure owned by the same corporations gorging on our fading democracy.

Enough is Enough! - A Call to Nonviolent Resistance

The time has come for the American people, and the peoples of the global community, to take resistance to the Bush administration to the next level. We cannot and will not remain silent and disengaged, as did the "good Germans" in the face of Nazi militarism, or as did the majority of "good Americans" as 3 million civilians were obliterated in the genocide visited on South East Asia by successive US administrations, both Democrat and Republican. Gone is the time for impotent verbal protest, or silent and passive despair. Two thirds of Americans now oppose the continuation of war in Iraq, and that must translate into direct action and/or nonviolent civil disobedience on a massive scale. Millions, not thousands, of righteous protestors must take to the streets of DC, and across the nation, at upcoming protests and organized direct actions, as half-a-million patriots did on Saturday in Washington DC. We witnessed a wondrous and life-affirming demonstration of peace, patriotism, and love. Get involved at http://www.declarationofpeace.org and be sure to sign the declaration on-line, as well as check out plans for nonviolent action in your area.

The anemic Peace Movement has had a much-needed wake-up call. We must recognize that marching, while still effective, is no longer sufficient to stop this military-industrial leviathan from consuming the country. The Democrats lack the conviction to tackle the root of the problem - as with the Republican Party, we cannot expect them (with some noble exceptions) to "bite the hand that feeds them" with campaign contributions. To truly slay the military-industrial beast that is devouring us, additional tactics will be necessary. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of patriots must join the War Tax Resisters League to cut off federal funding for military spending. (http://www.warresisters.org) A staggering 48% of the total federal budget is largely squandered on military costs - past and present. When the two thirds of Americans that now oppose the Iraq War decide to divest their retirement funds, investments, and 401k's from war-profiteers, we will start to see real change. If you currently have an investment fund, the odds are that you are personally profiting from the death, murder, and mayhem in Iraq. Now is the time to jettison these investments for good. The very worst offenders include Boeing; Lockheed Martin; Northrop Gruman; General Dynamics; Raytheon; United Technologies; Halliburton; General Electric; Science Applications International; CSC/Dyncorp; and Bechtel. A complete list can be found at http://www.warprofiteers.com. If you know people working for these corporations, engage them in nonviolent dialogue, and encourage them to seek alternative employment or careers.

As our country approaches bankruptcy, and the national debt approaches 10 trillion, it is no co-incidence that we scapegoat our immigrant populations, as a slowing economy failed in 2006 to create the 7 million new jobs needed to keep pace with population growth. The Peace Movement must make common-cause with the Immigrant Rights movement, just as the Civil Rights Movement did in the Vietnam era. As Dr King said in his "Beyond Vietnam" speech in 1968 http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm
There is a time, like this one, when "silence is betrayal". It is the moral duty of every patriotic American, and every member of the human family, to take direct nonviolent action. The alternative is global warfare, economic collapse, and the deaths of millions in the US and around the world at the hands of our own government.
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