<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Thank you for the comment. --CGE<div> <br><div><div>On Nov 11, 2011, at 2:06 PM, Betty Johnson wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div><span>Exactly right !!!!! Thanks for pointing this out and clarifying !!!!!<br></span></div><div><br><span></span></div><div><span>Betty Johnson<br></span></div><div><br></div><div style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> C. G. ESTABROOK <<a href="mailto:cge@shout.net">cge@shout.net</a>><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> Peace-discuss List <<a href="mailto:Peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net">Peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net</a>>; peace <<a href="mailto:peace@lists.chambana.net">peace@lists.chambana.net</a>><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cc:</span></b> sf-core <<a href="mailto:sf-core@yahoogroups.com">sf-core@yahoogroups.com</a>><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Thursday, November 10, 2011 11:36 AM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> [Peace] IVAW demonstration at Rep. Johnson's office<br></font><br> <meta http-equiv="x-dns-prefetch-control" content="off"><div id="yiv602653499"><div> <div style="margin-bottom:0in;">Local representatives of <i>Iraq Veterans Against the War</i> note that there are three points of unity in their mission statement:</div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;"><br> </div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;"><i>1. Immediate withdrawal of occupying troops from Iraq and Afghanistan;</i></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;"><i>2. Reparations for human and structural damage in Iraq and Afghanistan; and</i></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;"><i>3. Full benefits, adequate healthcare (including mental health), and other supports for returning servicemen and women.</i></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;"><br> </div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;">AWARE of course has heartily supported all three points for the full ten years of its existence and continues to do so. </div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;"><br> </div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;">Unfortunately, IVAW in C-U has been misled by a well-funded, right-wing, pro-war group that purports to be supporting veterans ("Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America"*) into attacking local Congressional representative Tim Johnson, one of the few members of the US House of Representatives (and one of the very few Republican members) who votes consistently for "immediate withdrawal of occupying troops from Iraq and Afghanistan." (Johnson has even joined other House members including Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Rep. Ron Paul in a suit against President Obama's violation of the War Powers Act in the attack on Libya.) IAVA attacks anti-war Congress members regardless of party, and IVAW inadvertently violates its own principles in following them.</div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;"><br> </div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;">The IAVA says that Johnson has voted against veterans benefits, but what he's actually done is to vote against war-funding bills to which the House leadership, Republican and Democrat, has attached benefits for veterans. As Johnson has said clearly, he supports "full benefits, adequate healthcare (including mental health), and other supports for returning servicemen and women" - when he can do so without voting for more money for killing people in the Mideast and Africa.</div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;"><br> </div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;"><span lang="en-US">I certainly have differences with Rep. Johnson - in fact I ran against him for Congress as a Green party candidate in 2002 - but we should not be misled into ignoring his consistent votes against the US war for oil in the Mideast and Africa. --CGE</span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;"><br> </div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;"><span lang="en-US">__________________</span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;"><br> </div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;"><span lang="en-US">*IAVA, as opposed to IVAW, is the pro-war group whose "veterans report card" is being used to attack anti-war Congressmen. Its board of directors includes several Wall Street investment bankers and the president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, Les Gelb, a long-time Pentagon and State Department apparatchik who, during the 2011 Egyptian protests against President Hosni Mubarak, was called by <a target="_blank" href="http://Salon.com">Salon.com</a> "the Egyptian dictator's freelance spokesman in America." My guess is that the local IVAW got the information about IAVA's "report card" from local Democrats associated with Democrat David Gill's campaign for Tim Johnson's Congressional seat. David Gill has used this same misleading attack against Rep. Johnson, and Gill continues to avoid undue candor about his position (or Johnson's) on the ongoing Mideast/African war. </span> </div></div></div><meta http-equiv="x-dns-prefetch-control" content="on"><br>_______________________________________________<br>Peace mailing list<br><a ymailto="mailto:Peace@lists.chambana.net" href="mailto:Peace@lists.chambana.net">Peace@lists.chambana.net</a><br><a href="http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace" target="_blank">http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace</a><br><br><br></div></div></div></div></blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>