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

[Jenifer Cartwright]

The problem w/ Ron Paul (and other free-market libertarians) is what the money will be used for when it's no longer used for US wars of aggression -- definitely NOT the 99%. --Jenifer

--- On Fri, 11/11/11, Betty Johnson <bettyj1953 at yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Betty Johnson <bettyj1953 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] [Peace] IVAW demonstration at Rep. Johnson's office
To: "C. G. ESTABROOK" <cge at shout.net>, "Peace-discuss List" <Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>, "peace" <peace at lists.chambana.net>
Cc: "sf-core" <sf-core at yahoogroups.com>
Date: Friday, November 11, 2011, 2:06 PM

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; and3. 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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