Mary deJuliis
8/18/2005
I was planning to write a journal entry about my feelings toward the Iraq War, Cindy Sheehan and Company. But
I am antiwar in Iraq because we were lied to about why we are in Iraq, our troops still don't have enough protective equipment, there were no weapons of mass destruction and Iraq wasn't responsible for the bombing of the World Trade Center. The first report I saw on CNN was that Marines had successfully secured 20 oil sites. It hasn't been about taking democracy to the Iraqi people. The Downing Street memos, the massive number of soldiers returning wounded and with missing limbs and more than 1,841 American soldiers' deaths, those are some of the reason's I am against the war in Iraq.In this State of corruption, greed and neo-conservatism, it's nice that a fellow Oklahoman has a loud enough voice today to land herself on the Google News page. Right at the top, too!
Also, last night several people I know attended an anti-war vigil in honor of Cindy Sheehan. It was held at Woodward Park and several local news channels arrived to cover the event. Here's an article. The actual number of attendees grew to more than 70, as mentioned by a friend who was there, which is a gentle surprise considering how pathetically pro-war most people seem to be in this city. Sadly, I wasn't aware of the event until seeing it on the 10:00 news, so I was unable to attend.
How do I feel about all of the progressive groups flocking to Camp Casey to 'show support?' Well, unlike so many others who are critical of the usual media sluts pouncing on ever opportunity to promote their organizations, I feel that this situation is different. This is happening beyond the influence of any single person or group. What is happening in Crawford, Texas is the peaceful people's voice in action. There are no guns. There is no fighting and rioting. And peace in practice is a powerful nexus for change. Sadly, I don't think that most people realize this, which is why they scoff and scorn on both sides of the fence.
In any situation, there are opportunistic hawks circling for a piece of meat. There will always be people like this, ambulance chasers, news reporters, politicians, professional protestors. They have their purpose, too. But right now, the animal is not dead, so there isn't much to feed on by carrion. At this point, only the predators can have their say. And it's lovely to find out who they are.
posted by Edward Svengali @ Thursday, August 18, 2005,
