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Americans oppose Iraq war, politicians don't
Arab-American News
By: Fred Vitale |
http://www.arabamericannews.com/newsarticle.php?articleid=6573
The latest "Washington Post"-ABC Poll, October 5-8, 2006, found that 63 percent of Americans think that the war in Iraq has not been worth fighting, the highest percentage of the Bush presidency.
Opposition to the war has been consistently greater than 50 percent for over a year. Yet, on the national scene, not a single major politician of either party has embraced this issue. The same polls that show a fall in support for President Bush and the Republicans do not show an equal rise in support for the Democrats.
Ned Lamont won the Democratic Party nomination for U.S. Senate in Connecticut running on a platform that questioned the wisdom of the war in Iraq, beating incumbent Joe Lieberman. Lieberman is running as an independent with support from the Republicans and is leading in the polls. Lieberman is also supported, unofficially, by many leading Democrats.
Most elected politicians remain committed to the Bush war policy in Iraq. The most recent Congressional votes to support the war in Iraq with funds were held in June, 2006. Bill HR 4939 passed Congress overwhelmingly. Out of 194 Democrats voting in the House, only 48 voted no. In the Senate, all Democrats voted for the final bill; the vote was 98-1.
How do we explain, in a democracy, such an apparent disregard for the opinions of the majority?
Both the Democratic and Republican parties have more at stake in supporting the war than in representing the voters. The pro-war Democrats have more at stake in supporting the war than winning control of Congress. The war against Iraq has been the policy of three administrations, the first George Bush, Bill Clinton and the second George Bush. The war is linked to powerful commercial and corporate interests who want control of Iraq’s oil resources.
The war in Iraq is costing lives, over 2,500 U.S. soldiers to date. The latest issue of "The Lancet," the prestigious British medical journal, has just published an article which estimates that 650,000 Iraqi lives have been lost. The war on Iraq has cost over $300 billion (www.nationalpriorities.org); Michigan’s portion is over $8 billion.
The Green Party (www.gp.org), unlike the Democratic and Republican Parties, has opposed the war from the very beginning and called for the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops.
As we near the end of this election campaign, the voices of opposition to the Iraq war campaigning across the country representing the majority on this crucial question have been silenced in most newspapers, television and radio.
In Pennsylvania, Carl Romanelli, Green candidate for U.S. Senate, was removed from the ballot after collecting nearly 95,000 signatures to meet a 67,000 signature requirement. Democrats or Republicans are required to collect 2,000 signatures. The Democratic Party took Romanelli to court and convinced a judge that there were enough invalid signatures to disqualify him. The judge, later backed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, is forcing him to pay nearly $1 million in Democratic Party lawyers' fees.
"The right to present evidence and a defense is basic in America. Even murderers are given a day in court. After seven weeks, I was not. Yet, the court wants me to pick up the tab," said Romanelli.
In spite of IRS requirements for non-profit debate-sponsoring organizations to treat all candidates equally, Green candidates are being excluded from debates all across the country.
Illinois Green gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney polling as high as 7.8 percent, was excluded from an October 2 debate hosted by Illinois Radio Network. Governor Rod Blagojevich, Democrat, has backed out of other scheduled debates because Whitney was invited or was about to be invited.
New York Green candidates Malachy McCourt for Governor, Rachel Treichler for Attorney General and Howie Hawkins for U.S. Senate have been excluded from the debates organized by the League of Women Voters and NY1 TV news station. Debate criteria included polls that barred third-party candidates and fundraising thresholds that excluded Green Party candidates, who do not accept corporate contributions. An independent Zogby International poll found that among independent voters, Hawkins polled 21 percent.
Here in Michigan, David Sole, Green candidate for U.S. Senate, and president of UAW Local 2334, was excluded from the October 18 debate between Democratic incumbent Stabenow and Republican nominee Bouchard at the Detroit Economic Club. The Sole campaign has filed suit with the Federal Elections Commission because the exclusion violates federal election rules. Sole calls for people to vote against the war by voting for him.
Stabenow has voted to support the war six times. She was also among the 12 Democrats who voted in September for S. 3930, the Military Commissions Act, also called the "torture act." She ranks third highest among all Congresspeople in receiving Israeli lobby dollars. Sole has called for an end to U.S. support to the state of Israel.
The writer is a National Delegate of the Green Party and candidate for Michigan State Representative, 3rd District |
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 *Website by David Doonan, Labor Donated to Hawkins for Senate Campaign* |
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