Join the anti-war movement !

[kentuck]

Or rejoin?

Which is what we should have done from the beginning, some would say. The ambiguous stand on the war hurt our Party in this election. It was an illegal and immoral invasion to begin with. Howard Dean was right about the war. Al Gore was right about the war. But, we held back our criticisms because we were told that we had to be for the war to be competitive in the presidential race. In fact, it was Kerry's ambiguous stand on the war that won him the Democratic nomination in the primaries. We had to be for the war to compete with George Bush and the Repubs, many Democrats thought.

Now, in hindsight, it looks like a political and a moral mistake. As our troops surround the city of Fallujah, ready for the final assault, we have no idea how many people will die, including women and children. We were wrong to invade that nation. And we are wrong now.

After this very painful election, Democrats need something important and righteous to unite behind. I suggest it should be against this evil war in Iraq. More than 1100 Americans have died already and some have estimated that up 100,000 Iraqis have died. The lies of the Bush Administration cannot cover up this travesty. They can talk about freedom, democracy, rape rooms, etc, but George Bush did an illegal and immoral act when he invaded the nation of Iraq. By the way, Osama is still at large.

[mike_c]

1. Kerry's position on the invasion and occupation of Iraq...

...consistently allowed Bush to frame the entire debate about terrorism, foreign policy, and support for the military. At the very least Kerry should have simply not discussed those topics-- instead, he essentially endorsed Bush's positions, differing only on the details, but NEVER offering credible alternatives to the bushbot positions.

on edit: it probably goes without saying, but I would have MUCH preferred a candidate who unambiguously opposed the "war" in Iraq.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. I never left the anti-war movement

the Iraq war was illegal. Now I fear we'll soon have other wars to contend with, namely a war with Iran and one with N. Korea, started by them. Wonder how Rove will spin the nuking of Alaska? Will the deluded ones who voted Bush for security still feel secure?

We will come through this, but it will be one rough ride, and a lot of people will be hurt, I fear.

[acmavm]

3. I agree. But what we need are pictures to push into the faces of Americans

Dead babies, old people, etc. I know that sounds totally friggin' gross but this war doesn't even register with people because it's just sound bites on the news, and that they can ignore. They need to be made to SEE what they advocate, what are the real consequences of bombing cities because they have info that a high-level aid to Zaqahiri is hiding out in every one of them.

We need to go back to the tactics of the peace movement during Viet Nam. You're most certainly too young to remember or even know about all the 'underground' radio stations and news papers that started popping up all over the place. Sometimes the news papers were just little pamphlet-like 8-1/2 x 11 pages that reported the truth about casualites and the lies coming out of Washington.

If dems are going to have a chance of reorganizing and getting back on their feet, we're going to have to borrow some of the old techniques that worked so well so very long ago.

People hit the streets, the college campuses. But remember that there were some very ugly ramifications to speaking out. Kent State is a memory seared into my brain. The pictures of the dead lying on the ground and the girl (I have forgotten her name, shame on me) crying by the dead body of her friend.

Anyone foolish enough not to understand that history repeats itself won't understand that it also necessary to remember the lessons learned long ago to fight the same injustices when the appear on the national landscape again. We need new leaders, we need people who are not afraid to speak out about the twisted version of the truth being foisted on us by the bush* administration. The young, who had so damn much to lose did that for this country during the dark days of Viet Nam. It sure as hell wasn't the politicians in Washington.