Eighth Anniversary of starting of Iraq War
19 Mar 2011

vfp speaker
Gathering at Lafayetter Park directly across from the White House, Veterans for Peace, Code Pink, World Can't Wait and ANSWER were the main sponsors of the demonstration. The draw-down of troops in Iraq proceeds according to the schedule agreed upon by President G.W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, so the main focus of the protest was the war in Afghanistan, which President Obama said would be seriously reduced by June 2011, but it looks as though an American presence is planned for a very long time. Of couse, US troops will not be housed in "permanent bases," no, no, no, they'll be in “joint facilities,” which is, uh, different, erm, somehow. 

line of umbrellas
A neat visual was to get a whole bunch of folks lined up with pink umbrellas with the White House as their backdrop. So, how does the progressive movement feel about launching a war on Libya? The UNAC Steering Committee is against interfering in other countries. Personally, I was soured on a war there as soon as I heard who was in favor of it (Basically, all the people who were in favor of the Iraq War).

Debra Sweet

Debra Sweet of World Can't Wait speaks.

Betsey Piette invites Philadelphia progressives over to a debate on what to do about Libya.

I also want to take this opportunity to invite everyone to an upcoming Philly IAC forum on Libya.  Sara Flounders, a leading organizer of the International Action Center and a member of the UNAC national steering committee, will be speaking in Philadelphia on Tuesday March 29th at 7pm at the Calvary Church, 48th & Baltimore.  Whether or not you agree with the IAC position on Libya, please feel free to come to this event to voice your opinion/opposition.  We welcome the debate.

another speaker
Whatever else we can agree on, I don't think there's any question that President Obama's approach is much, much better than President G.W. Bush's. Ross Douthat, the NY Times "official conservative" columnist, tries to make the case that Clintonian liberal interventions are a bad thing, but fails to make any such case. Not only that, but it's quite obvious that he avoids making any such case that Bush's invasions were a good thing, because they very obviously were not.

Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader gave a good speech. Ron Paul (The two of them are allies) printed it.

What exactly are Obama's goals in Libya? Hmm, good question. What happens in the case of all sorts of likely contingencies? It's not really clear that even the planners know.

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