Aloha Hawaii …
I trust a great deal of you were able to make it out to the Medea Benjamin talk at Church of the Crossroads Friday night.
If not, here’s a brief rundown …
Medea Benjamin spoke about the condition under which the Iraqi people are living. Having visited the country several time in the past couple of years, she said the people are demanding not only electricity, clean water, and working sewage systems but also an immediate withdrawal of all U.S. lead forces.
“When I go to Iraq I don’t stay in the Green Zone, where all the reporters and politicians stay, I go to where the people are.”
Ms Benjamin talked in-depth about not only a need for an immediate pull-out plan from Iraq but also the need to demand more support for our returning veterans in terms of medical assistance and psychological support for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) related illnesses … an illness that Uncle Sam is deigns exists. (AKA: the 21st Century’s Agent Orange and Gulf War syndrome)
“Oppose the War, Support the Warriors.” She said.
She also said that the cost of U.S. military actions abroad has drained resources on the domestic level. She suggested that the monthly total of money spent in Iraq alone could pay for several thousand college tuitions.
She urged everyone to challenge the aggressive tactics of the military recruiters and to continue to push the “opt-out” information to parents, a form which enables parents to remove their children’s names and phone numbers from military recruiter contact lists.
Ms. Benjamin suggested that parents should have to “Opt-in” in order for military recruiters to obtain their children’s information. (Good Point!)
Among the member of the audience was Mr. Neil Abercrombie … one of our Hawaii Representatives.
Mr. Abercrombie mentioned that of the Iraqi Casualties a huge percent were caused by Coalition forces and not by Terrorist Cells.
Mr. Abercrombie spoke briefly about the need to bring HJ RES 55 to the floor for a vote.
HJ RES 55, the “Homeward Bound” Bill is ‘an opportunity to rally the nation around a bipartisan plan to bring the troops home. It requires the Administration to "develop and implement a plan for the withdrawal of United States Armed Forces from Iraq."
The bill, entitled "Homeward Bound", requires the Administration to announce not later than December 31, 2005 a plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq, and to begin bringing our troops home not later than October 1, 2006. This will be the beginning of the end of the war in Iraq. ‘ (snip:
http://www.kucinich.us)
I apologize that this is not everything that she or Mr. Abercrombie said … I wasn’t taking notes or recording the speech BUT OLEO WAS!!!
The show will most likely air on Oleo sometime in the near future!!!!! BE LOOKING OUT!!!
More words from ...
--The Dharma!