Jack Balkwill
Online
Journal
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
On Saturday, American citizens responded to an illegal war they
were forced to support with their taxes and the blood of their
children. The war on the people of Iraq has taken hundreds of
thousands of innocent lives and created havoc for Iraqis still
living.
The people marched on the nation’s Capitol Saturday, expressing
their outrage with the start of a months-long rebellion that will
be told in future history books. It was not a protest of wild-eyed
radicals, but one of mainstream Americans, who have had enough
of tyranny. Elderly people could be seen, combat veterans, and
even people from my neighborhood, the conservative Tidewater region
of Virginia -- Pat Robertson country.
It was here in Tidewater that Thomas Jefferson was educated at
the College of William and Mary. Jefferson foresaw that the people
might run into such a dilemma as an illegal foreign war, and backed
an amendment [1] to the Constitution, with the proposition that
it is the right of the people peaceably to assemble, as they did
Saturday.
Although a clear majority of citizens want the troops out of
Iraq [2], neither the executive nor legislative branches have
a plan to comply. We are hearing from the Congress only suggestions
of resolutions that our troops should, sort of, not be increased
in Iraq, perhaps. President Bush and Vice President Cheney have
responded sternly that they don't care what Congress thinks, they
will overrule any such whimpers as these.
From here in the Tidewater region of Virginia, home to dozens
of military bases, forts and stations -- the most militarized
and conservative region in America, we sent hundreds of protesters
to the capitol Saturday demanding that the troops be brought home
from Iraq.
Among the speakers in Washington were Jane Fonda, Sean Penn,
Susan Sarandon, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Congresswoman Maxine Waters
and Congressman Dennis Kucinich (the other presidential candidates
did not show their faces after voting for an illegal war and/or
appropriations with which to sustain it). House Judiciary Committee
Chairman John Conyers voiced the will of the people at the rally,
“Out if Iraq immediately. This year. We've got to go.”
Jefferson wrote his friend and fellow Virginian James Madison
from Paris on another January day in 1787, "I hold it that
a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary
in the political world as storms in the physical." Saturday
the people took him up on that, and participated in opening a
rebellion with skirmishes planned to come.
Anticipating that the war may not stop as a result of Saturday’s
march, the people have more demonstrations planned for this ongoing
rebellion. On February 17, when a new appropriation of some hundred
billion dollars more for Iraq war is considered, comes "No
More Money for War Day," with local protests across the country
to demand the cutoff of all war funding. But if those in power
do not listen, an escalation is planned.
On March 17 comes the "March on the Pentagon -- Stay in
Washington" protest. The Troops Out Now Coalition is working
with the ANSWER Coalition and other national groups to organize
a massive march on the Pentagon on the fourth anniversary of the
illegal invasion of Iraq. This time, protesters plan to stay in
Washington until Congress cuts off all war spending -- it will
be a time to move from protest to resistance, as Jefferson encouraged.
Check the Troops Out Now website for details, updates, and transportation
from your area.
It is an exciting time here in the Tidewater region of Virginia,
where we celebrate the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown
this year, the first English settlement in the New World leading
to the birth of our nation, nearby at Yorktown, with the defeat
of the British army in 1781. But something is missing, as we are
bogged down in the kind of foreign war the Founding Fathers dreaded
in their writings.
People are being killed in Iraq every day, and the experts tell
us the biggest cause of violence is the presence of Western troops.
Most of the attacks are on Americans. With Western troops out;
the violence will be reduced by at least half, probably far more
than that. Neighboring countries should be able to provide Islamic
troops for temporary security-- with regional political talks
leading to the kind of solution that has the best chance for success.
Democracy cannot be spread by gunfire.
Jefferson went about as far as one may go with rebellious words
in his Declaration of Independence, about times like these, when
reason breaks down and our rulers fail to listen to the people,
"That whenever any form of government becomes destructive
of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish
it."
Notes
[1] Actually introduced by his friend James Madison.
[2] In fact, a Zogby poll last year found that even 72% of troops
stationed in Iraq thought the troops should leave within a year,
and nearly a quarter of them thought immediately.
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