[Peace-discuss] [Peace] IVAW demonstration at Rep. Johnson's office

[C. G. ESTABROOK]

Thank you for the comment. --CGE

On Nov 11, 2011, at 2:06 PM, Betty Johnson wrote:

> Exactly right !!!!!   Thanks for pointing this out and  
> clarifying !!!!!
>
> Betty Johnson
>
> From: C. G. ESTABROOK <cge at shout.net>
> To: Peace-discuss List <Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>; peace <peace at lists.chambana.net 
> >
> Cc: sf-core <sf-core at yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2011 11:36 AM
> Subject: [Peace] IVAW demonstration at Rep. Johnson's office
>
> Local representatives of Iraq Veterans Against the War note that  
> there are three points of unity in their mission statement:
>
> 1. Immediate withdrawal of occupying troops from Iraq and Afghanistan;
> 2. Reparations for human and structural damage in Iraq and  
> Afghanistan; and
> 3. Full benefits, adequate healthcare (including mental health), and  
> other supports for returning servicemen and women.
>
> AWARE of course has heartily supported all three points for the full  
> ten years of its existence and continues to do so.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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
>
> __________________
>
> *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 Salon.com "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.
>
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>

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