By Kathy Kelly, Electronic Iraq, 30 January 2007
There should be massive convoys traveling into Iraq on a regular basis to meet the rising humanitarian needs. There should be, but there aren’t. Families that can manage to reach the Jordanian or Syrian borders flee with the hope of being allowed to cross into the two countries that have allowed Iraqis to enter. But now, Jordan’s official policy is that they’ll only allow Iraqis with permanent residence in Jordan to enter, and the Syrians are also clamping down.
We who are vastly more comfortable and secure stand by, seemingly mesmerized by the awful consequences of a “war of choice” begun by the United States. We must liberate ourselves from the absurd presumption that the U.S. military has the power or the right to impose solutions in parts of the world where they are not welcome. We should insist that decision makers in the U.S. come to grips with the consequences of the past four years of military invasion and occupation and demand that U.S. wealth be directed toward humanitarian concerns, unhinged from U.S. military control. We should welcome and support diplomatic means to resolve crises.
Now another engagement looms. The Bush administration may try to wed U.S. people to yet another war, this time against Iran. If so, that would be joyful news for the controlling interests of large corporations that benefit from U.S. warfare and U.S. dominance over oil resources in this part of the world. We who claim the right to free speech, far beyond the imprisoning borders of Iraq, should join our strengths and wills to visit every congressional and senate office over the coming weeks, exercising nonviolent civil disobedience to cut funding for the wasteful, cruel, illegal and immoral U.S. addiction to war. (See vcnv.org to learn more about joining such a campaign.) [More]