A Call to Arms

A war with Iran is looking ever more likely. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, is going to Israel to disuss ideas over strategy, with the Israelis saying they'll attack if the United States does not.

A war with Iran benefits no one but the war industry and those in Washington who make their money as the mouthpieces of the the war machine. By attacking Iran, the United States will be forcing itself into another endless war, and will increase the chances that yet another massive terrorist attack will happen on American shores. Israel's security, for which this war would be fought, to which every presidential candidate must make a commitment in order to get elected, is not the problem of the United States but of the citizens of Israel.

So this is a call to arms. More and more polls show that Americans are tired of endless war and it's time to put that resentment into action. Right now, there is legislation on the floor of the House of Representatives granting our know-it-all president the power to "initiate an international effort to immediately and dramatically increase the economic, political, and diplomatic pressure on Iran to verifiably suspend its nuclear enrichment activities by, inter alia, prohibiting the export to Iran of all refined petroleum products; imposing stringent inspection requirements on all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains, and cargo entering or departing Iran; and prohibiting the international movement of all Iranian officials not involved in negotiating the suspension of Iran’s nuclear program."

This bill is called resolution HR 362 and has already gained 170 co-sponsors. A similar Senate resolution, SR 580 is also being proposed for committee. We have to stop these bills from passing. Log on to the Just Foreign Policy website and send in their form letter. Just confirm your zip code and hit the "Go" button, and they'll tell you who your representative is, in the event you don't know. Or contact your House Rep and Senators on your own. However you want to do it, just take some action!!!!

Apart from contacting Congress, the time has come to stop acting as if that is our only means of political expression. We need to start thinking of ways of taking politics out of the formal sphere of capitol buildings, statehouse, and lobbyists offices, and putting it into new informal spheres: the streets, our workplaces, parks, art-houses, theaters. The wars being fought now in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the war that could be soon fought with Iran, will not be ended by people elected into a rigged system. It will be ended when Americans finally say, "ENOUGH!" and stop the war machine from moving forward.

NOTE:

Here's something off A Just Foreign Policy's blog. Israel's recent military exercise in the Mediterranean, meant to warn the United States of their desire for action, may just be a bluff. Check it out!

Reason #1

Reason #2

Reason #3

....That there won't be any "change" happening in 2008.

That is, unless, we all decide to get on the streets and put some monkey-wrenches in the gears of their machine....

Apparently the Politics & Prose bookshop doesn't like sponsoring people with differing viewpoints then them:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/06/AR2008060603066_pf.html

Back in February, I wrote a little piece regarding the F-22 Raptor, and how it represents the power the War industry has here in the District. Today Christopher Preble of the CATO institute (yes, yes, the very paleo-conservative CATO institute), wrote a piece that goes more into the waste of building the fighter in the first place. One statement he makes is particularly telling:

"The F-22 is an exceptional aircraft, but it faces only a hypothetical enemy in a future war that may never occur. The Air Force hasn't even deployed F-22s to Iraq or Afghanistan, since they're not well suited to the battles being fought there. The F-22's armor is too light even for small-arms fire, which forces it to drop its ordnance from high altitude. That increases the likelihood of civilian casualties, which make it harder, not easier, to win the support of Iraqis who remain deeply skeptical of American intentions."

So why the hell is the U.S. Taxpayer spending money on such a piece of crap? Probably because even though the overall manufacturing sector that used to provide high paying jobs to American workers has dwindled, weapons manufacturing still provides jobs. Jobs that are by nature dependent upon politicians looking to get votes. Never mind that it's a job constructing a death machine that no one will ever use.