[Peace-discuss] Text of Main Event flyer; formatted attached

[C. G. Estabrook]

  ~ THE WAR IS NOT OVER ~ IT'S EXPANDING INSTEAD ~
OUR GOVERNMENT CONTINUES TO KILL PEOPLE IN THE MIDEAST
PRESIDENT OBAMA CONTINUES TO MISLEAD US ABOUT WHY

Last Tuesday night President Obama gave a speech about the war that his 
administration is conducting in the Middle East. Unfortunately, his account was 
so misleading as to amount to a substantial lie:

[1] The US war against Iraq is not over. President Obama has just changed the 
names. The war that the Bush administration called "Operation Iraqi Freedom" 
when it occupied the country, the Obama administration now calls "Operation New 
Dawn"; what the Bush administration called "brigade combat teams," the Obama 
administration now calls "advisory and assistance brigades." There are still 
50,000 US troops and a similar number of mercenaries in Iraq - which has the 
second largest known reserves of oil in the world; if Iraq produced mainly 
cabbage, would those US troops and mercs still be there?

[2] The US is expanding our war against Afghanistan . President Obama sharply 
escalated President Bush’s war in Afghanistan, although 75% of Afghans are in 
favor of negotiations including the Taliban, whom the US calls terrorists (or, 
as Secretary of State Clinton says, "Really bad guys"). There are now more than 
110,000 troops under U.S. command in Afghanistan, including more than 34,000 
European troops from NATO. The NATO Secretary-General said, “NATO troops have to 
guard pipelines that transport oil and gas that is directed for the West, 
[protect sea routes used by tankers], and other crucial infrastructure” of the 
energy system.

[3] The US is expanding our undeclared war against Pakistan. The incoming Obama 
administration sneered that he Bush administration was only taking "baby steps" 
in targeting people in Pakistan (with which we are not at war) for assassination 
by drone rocket; the Obama administration has greatly expanded that and other 
death-squad operations. So the strongest armies in the world are killing people 
to "stop terrorism" in villages in Afghanistan and Pakistan - even while 
Pakistan is flooded.

[4] The US is expanding our "secret" war against other countries in the region. 
The US is also killing people in Yemen and Somalia. And it continues to threaten 
Iran. A look at the map will show why - these countries are on the approaches to 
the Middle East. The US insists on controlling by various means a circle with a 
1500-mile radius around the Persian Gulf. "Terrorists," according to the US 
government, are those who oppose the US occupation and control of the Middle East.


IT'S NOT "BECAUSE OF 9/11" OR TO "STOP TERRORISM"
The real reason for the Obama administration's ongoing war seems to be the 
long-standing US policy of control over the largest energy-producing region of 
the world. And not because we need the gas and oil ourselves: the US imports 
very little oil from the Middle East for use here at home; most of the energy 
resources that we consume in the US come from the Americas and West Africa. But 
control of Mideast oil and gas gives the US government a powerful bargaining 
chip in its relations with its real economic competitors in the world - the 
Europe and East Asia (China and Japan).

Obama's war will continue until more Americans speak up loudly and reject it. A 
majority of Americans do reject it - 72% say that the war is not worth the loss 
of life and other other costs to the country - even though we rarely hear that 
view expressed in the news. But for the moment our government doesn't seem to 
care about our opinions.

If you are appalled that the Obama administration - against the wishes of three 
out of four Americans - is conducting an unjustified war in the Middle East and 
misrepresenting the reason for it, call your Congressional representatives. 
Congressman Tim Johnson, Senator Roland Burris, and Senator Dick Durbin can be 
reached through the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121. Tell them that the U.S. 
has no business killing people in the Middle East for resisting our invasion and 
occupation.
Your protest makes a difference: Congressman Johnson, who voted for the 
invasions of Afghanistan and Pakistan, now says that he was wrong to do so and 
refuses to vote for any more funding for war in the Middle East - and he has 
kept his promise by voting that way.

Resistance in the military is growing. On August 23 five peace activists - three 
veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and one military spouse - blockaded 
six buses carrying Fort Hood soldiers deploying to Iraq. Police made no arrests, 
but instead beat the activists out of the streets using automatic weapons and 
police dogs. The action, organized by "Fort Hood Disobeys," was aimed at 
preventing the deployment of 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment soldiers to what the 
veterans termed an illegal and immoral occupation.

You can join a local peace group that is working to end the US war in the 
Mideast. In Champaign-Urbana, one local peace group is AWARE, the Anti-War 
Anti-Racism Effort, members and friends of which produced this leaflet for the 4 
September 2010 Main Event – our monthly peace demonstration at Main and Neil 
Streets in downtown Champaign. We meet every Sunday at 5pm in the McKinley 
Foundation, 5th and Daniel Streets in Champaign, near the UIUC campus. We 
discuss the war and what can be done against it. Visitors are welcome - and see 
our Facebook page. AWARE is also happy to provide speakers and/or discussion 
leaders on the Mideast war and related issues. Write <cge at shout.net>. AWARE is 
composed of people opposed to the war, but it is not affiliated with any other 
group or political party.

AWARE presents AWARE on the Air each Tuesday 10-11pm on Urbana Public 
Television, cable channel 6. Each week we bring you comments by members and 
friends of AWARE about the war and the opposition to it, locally and nationally, 
by Americans who oppose our government's betrayal of our democratic principles.

END THE U.S. WAR FOR OIL IN THE MIDDLE EAST
BRING ALL UNITED STATES TROOPS HOME
STOP PAYING FOR WAR FROM PALESTINE TO PAKISTAN
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