Groundhog Day Wags the Dog, National Day of Action, US Troops Out of Iraq

Leslie, Barbara, and Rollerena - so many heroes in the fight,

out in the rain even after decades of this. 

We will not be dragged into another war...

"The Trump administration is rapidly escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran.  Now is the time to remind Congress that we can only achieve true and lasting peace through peaceful means. Contact Congress today: Urge them to do everything in their power to stop the Trump administration from bringing us closer to war with Iran!"

"On Saturday, January 4 ...CODEPINK...are calling on people from around the United States to organize local demonstrations to demand: NO MORE U.S. TROOPS TO IRAQ OR THE MIDDLE EAST! U.S. OUT OF IRAQ NOW! and NO WAR/NO SANCTIONS ON IRAN!"

This blogger and Barbara Bowen, the head of the PSC representing. 

The Professional Staff Congress in Solidarity. 

http://erikmcgregor.com/2020/01/04/anti-war-demo/

The Canibal Girls playing Friday night. 

They were babies before the  last war. 

The New Years hangover was barely over before news that another war was on  the way.

I wasn’t even done with my new years blog when I had to add the line,

Even  as war looms in the air.

Another  war, 

more trauma, kids starving, torture, separation, cruelty.

Our  16 year-old-was only a month old  the last time we got into a war  in the Middle East. 

Her band was playing on  15^th street.

On the way, to the show, I looked at twitter.

Our VP was asserting that Iran was responsible for 911.

The beat goes on.

Eternal returns.

Misinform. 

Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Wag the dog, distract, repeat.  

Early in the day, organizer Leslie Cagan sent an email about an anti-war action the next day:

What: National Day of Action US Troops Out of Iraq
When: On Saturday, January 4th from 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Where: Time Square, New York City

In response to the massive protests in Iraq following the latest U.S. aerial assault that killed scores of Iraqis, the Trump administration launched airstrikes on the Iraqi militia group that killed 25 members. The strikes violated U.S. law since they were carried out without any congressional approval. To make matters worse, the Trump administration announced it is sending 750 more troops to the Middle East and possibly another 4,000. This is in addition to the 5,200 U.S. troops already stationed in Iraq. In the past 28 years, more than a million Iraqis have died as a consequence of U.S. occupation, bombings, and sanctions and tens of thousands of U.S. troops have either been killed or suffered life-changing wounds…

Join us and our coalition partners this Saturday, January 4th to demand U.S. troops to get out of Iraq! We'll be in Time Square, New York City with our “ NO U.S. War In Iraq! Been There, Done That” signs and our message for peace!”

Post after post started flying.

Anti-war quotes and memes from poets and graphic novelists.

Sadness and anxiety inside thinking about another war, another step away from progress.

Its like the days of the fin de siècle in Vienna, notes Caroline.

Suicides rising, people terrified as their foundations were crumbling.

It’s a slow deterioration we’ve felt all our lives.

For a while there my mom wanted to study Iranian art.

Then the hostage crisis and revolution that Marjane Satrapi describes in Persepolis.

Waves of misunderstanding.

Carter’s presidency was over.

Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush.

More war, more misunderstandings.

More sanctions.

More  threats.   

Our little one born into war with more war.

We say no to  war Feb 15, 3003,

rallies in cities around the globe,  

the biggest demo in  world history.

Drones,

A temporary people deal,

Followed by assassinations, destabilizing a fragile eco system.

Across the world, people called it:

“U.S. airstrike that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani .. "stunningly" stupid and counterproductive.”

And regular people pay the  bill.

Tim Murphy, author of the Correspondents, wrote:

“My heart hurts for the kind and hospitable everyday people of the Middle East, who are always hurt so much more—physically, economically and otherwise—by stupid power plays between the region and the U.S. than anyone on "our" side of the waters is. It is so infuriating that, despite the many horrible aggressions committed in that part of the world by Dubya (who tore a hole open in the region by invading Iraq that has led to present-day conflicts, i.e. turning Iraq over to Iran...idiot!) and Obama (less so, but still plenty of drone strikes), one thing both did NOT do was kill this particular Iranian general for fear that it would lead to more war. Leave it to our current amoral dumbass POTUS to do that. I really wish Americans could experience life under sanctions for just one month—the kind of sanctions that have literally cost countless everyday lives in places like Iraq and Iran because they could not get not only luxuries and foodstuffs but lifesaving medications. Maybe then there'd be a little less apathy and a little more investment on the part of Americans in terms of how we behave in the rest of the world.”

Fog filled the air on the East River as I crossed the Manhattan Bridge.

At Times Square people were arriving for the demonstration. 

With the blues grabbing me, us,

Sometimes just seeing friends helps us beat back the blue demon,

friend after friend commiserating.

Standing there, a few of us chatted about a friend who’d recently been consumed by the blues.

“How was your Reverend Billy sainting?”

I asked Rollerena.

“It was wonderful.”

He tells me a story about his first demonstration  over a half century prior in  1965 in Kentucky.

“Well, when I was in high school in 1965, I started paying attention to what was going on in Vietnam. I was looking at the nightly news, and they had these broadcasts about what was going on over there, and they had the statistics and the death toll and the injuries, and these reports alarmed me. And this was on the news every single night, and there were stories in the newspapers, and I just decided when I graduated to leave and move up to Chicago. Now, here’s the point. If you didn’t have plans for college, if you were low-income, if you didn’t have the average to get into college, or you didn’t have the connections to stay out of the draft, you were a candidate for Uncle Sam.”

Rollerena skipped outta town.

I asked why he was here.

“I’m here because  we’re in  a mess.  This is all a big distraction from the impeachment.

Its been planned. Wars are about money. Your 17-year-old daughter won’t benefit from this war, She may have to fight. 

Its all about money.  But why do we have to get involved in this?”

Profits, said Jack Reed. Profits.

My friend Allen, another vet of decades of anti war actions, drops by to say hello.

Jay, from Gays Against Guns.

Donna and  countless others.

We chat about when we’re going to DC for the Remove45 actions next week.

“This is like groundhog day,” I greet Leslie Cagan, snapping a photo.

When I got your email yesterday I was thinking I’m tired of going to these things, I tell her.

But if you are going, I’m going I continue. 

We chat about the Tories in England letting Trump know he is on his own  on this one.

“There are cracks and opposition,” notes Cagan. “But the situation is so volatile. Almost anything could trigger a major escalation. A new war in Iran could make the last one….”

Cagan pauses looking for the right words.  The last war was a horror….but.

“They are strong, with a big military, and not afraid to use it.”

So what do we do, I  ask.

Everything, Come to rallies, Writer letters, she replies.  Cagan pauses again.

“We have to link the movements in this struggle. We have to.  Without that we are fighting on our own.”

Sometimes solidarity feels elusive.

But people I’ve known for years were there.

The public spaces where we meet are often shut down.

So we congregate in the streets.

And that is worth celebrating.

See friends still at it, even after decades.

Conflict after conflict.

From Vietnam to the Gulf War,

Onward and onward.

This is a scary moment, notes Erik walking after the rally.

I really think they are going to do something.

And this time, its squarely on us.  

As Lawrence Ferlinghetti put it after the last  Middle East  fiasco:

“Pity The Nation”
Pity the nation whose people are sheep,
and whose shepherds mislead them.
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced,
and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice,
except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully as hero
and aims to rule the world with force and by torture.
Pity the nation that knows no other language but its own
and no other culture but its own.
Pity the nation whose breath is money
and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed.
Pity the nation — oh, pity the people who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away.
My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty.”