Join the "Healthcare NOT Warfare" campaign!
PDA 2006 Election Video
» 56K modem
» broadband
Stop Funding War Video
» All
formats
Click here for the Congressional Schedule
Monday 20 June 2005
"I was in Washington yesterday at the rally and at the Conyers hearings.
And since I laid a heavy statement on you last week, I just wanted to make a correction. It's finally over. My despair is over. Something has happened these last ten days that has revived the antiwar issue. I won't say how optimistic I am. But something is coming together--you can feel it."
- Anti-war activist, as reported in The Nation Magazine, June 19, 2005
After almost a thousand days of marching, organizing, screaming and shouting over the illegal and unjustified invasion and occupation of Iraq, a day of change long awaited finally came. With the suddenness of a windstorm at sea, this nation's capitol was swept up in a large, loud and defiant chorus of demands on Thursday, June 16th, that the Bush-maintained status quo of violence, disinformation and despair in Iraq must change, and must change now.
Several things happened at once. Rep. Maxine Waters formed an 'Out-of-Iraq' Caucus, made up of 50 House members, whose sole purpose was to push the Bush administration to plan and execute a withdrawal of American forces of Iraq. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, joined by Republican Rep. Walter Jones, offered legislation demanding a timetable for that withdrawal.
That this legislation was bipartisan was remarkable, but more remarkable was the involvement of Rep. Jones, who was once among the most vocal supporters of the invasion, and who single-handedly promulgated the "Freedom Fries" attack upon the French for their resistance to the war in the United Nations. Almost simultaneously, Rep. Nancy Pelosi offered legislation likewise demanding an Iraq withdrawal, and every Democrat in the House voted to support it.
By far and away, however, the most important events took place in a small room in the Capitol Building, in a small park across the city, and before a long, black gate.
In that small room, Rep. John Conyers and a roomful of House allies listened to compelling, factual testimony from four individuals - Ambassador Joseph Wilson, retired CIA analyst Ray McGovern, constitutional attorney John Bonifaz, and a Gold Star Mother named Cindy Sheehan - who described in searing detail the import and consequences of the Downing Street Minutes.
As this hearing was concluding, a large gathering of protesters gathered in Lafayette Park across from the White House. There, the crowd was exhorted by Medea Benjamin, PDA Director Tim Carpenter, the mothers of fallen soldiers and many others to stay the course, to continue pounding on the Minutes, to continue to demand that the occupation of Iraq be brought to an immediate conclusion.
As the Lafayette rally grew in size and volume, a small group of people walked with deliberation towards the black White House gate. In their arms were stacks of paper - tens and tens and tens of thousands of signatures from ordinary Americans who want the bloodshed in Iraq to stop.
This, again, was Rep. Conyers, flanked by Rep. Waters and several other allies. They placed themselves before the gate, surrounded suddenly by media cameras and protesters, and demanded that the White House guard take those signatures inside. After a few moments, the gate opened and the signatures were handed over.
As Rep. Conyers later recounted, this was the first time this administration had accepted papers from anyone for any reason. Why the sudden reversal? Perhaps it was the poll numbers of the Bush administration, which have been plummeting like a gravity-captured meteor.
Perhaps it was the numbers that said the American people no longer trust George W. Bush to defend them.
Perhaps it was the numbers that show a clear majority of Americans, for the first time, see the war as a great mistake that must be brought to an end. Perhaps it was because Bush's own Republican allies have begun to abandon him, much as Republicans began abandoning another beleaguered President some thirty years ago, at the beginning of the end of a long, dark night.
Many things happened at once last Thursday, and this was just the beginning. More than 130 organizations came together to create the After Downing Street Coalition, and Progressive Democrats of America was right there with them. We intend to keep the pressure on, to continue pushing the Downing Street Minutes in the media and all across Congress.
We are not alone in this effort; at the conclusion of the Downing Street hearing, a Representative asked Mr. Conyers what happens next, and Conyers replied that there would be more hearings, and more hearings, and more hearings besides, until the full light of truth in this matter is revealed to all, and a reckoning is brought to that black gate, and the occupation is ended.
This is the beginning of the end of another long, dark night. Keep pushing. Keep fighting. We will be right there with you.
