[Peace-discuss] Tomorrow's events
C. G. Estabrook
galliher at illinois.edu
Wed Dec 15 20:35:18 CST 2010
Ellsberg, Other Anti-War Protesters To Chain Themselves To White House Fence
12-15-10 07:20 PM
Dan Froomkin
froomkin at huffingtonpost.com
Even as President Obama on Thursday attempts to put a good face on the war in
Afghanistan, Vietnam-era whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and several dozen other
anti-war protesters will be chaining themselves to the White House fence,
inviting arrest in the name of peace.
"We are dedicated to exposing the true costs of war and militarism," explained
Mike Ferner, the president of Veterans for Peace, the group organizing
Thursday's Lafayette Square rally and civil disobedience.
"We've killed well over a million people. We've orphaned and displaced five
times that number at least. And here in our own country, we've managed to throw
millions of people of out work and out of their homes," Ferner told reporters at
a press conference Wednesday. "There is a connection there. That connection is
the true cost of war."
Citing information available for every city and state in America on the Cost of
War website, the former Navy hospital corpsman noted that his hometown of Toledo
alone has sent almost a billion dollars into the war effort.
Obama is expected to cite "progress" in the war as he releases a review of
American strategy in Afghanistan. During his visit to Bagram Air Force Base
earlier this month, the president telegraphed his position by telling the troops
that "thanks to your service, we are making important progress. You are
protecting your country."
Ellsberg, the former military analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971 as
an act of protest against the Vietnam War, took particular umbrage at Obama's
claim that the troops in Afghanistan are keeping Americans safe.
"I regard that last assurance as a lie. As a big lie," he said. Ellsberg said
Obama knew full well when he announced a major troop-escalation plan a year ago
that the war was unwinnable, and that putting in more troops would actually
bolster the Taliban -- and, by extension, al Qaeda -- by helping their
recruiting efforts.
"It is our military operations that are not only failing to protect Americans,
they are endangering Americans," said Ellsberg, 79, for whom this will be the
80th civil disobedience arrest.
"There comes a time when you need to put your body in it," said former CIA
analyst-turned-activist Ray McGovern, paraphrasing Martin Luther King, Jr. "If
the making of peace means prison, that's where we need to be."
"We are hoping that our actions will spark resistance everywhere," said Veterans
for Peace Vice President Leah Bolger. "We are hoping to make people question
what the government is doing in our name."
A brief rally is scheduled for 10 a.m. across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White
House with remarks from Ellsberg, McGovern, Ferner, "Peace Mom" Cindy Sheehan,
Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin, and others.
Protesters will then head for the White House, where organizers hope 100 or more
people with chain themselves to the fence and get arrested.
More information about the Peace-discuss
mailing list