Camp Democracy, Day One and Day Two

Tuesday Sept 5, 2006

I spent some time at Camp Democracy this afternoon, and heard a group discussion about how the US anti-war/peace and justice groups can support reconciliation and peace in Iraq and the greater Middle East. One interesting point an Iraqi veteran made was that the Iraqi constitution was originally written in English, and was classified. It was later translated to Arabic. He also pointed out that propaganda for the upcoming elections was written in Arabic, including matchbooks to promote candidates, yet the constitution had to be translated from English to Arabic. Several Iraqi people commented (to him) on how the Samarra bombing incident had really interesting timing, in that the Sunni groups were being brought into the political process at that point, and the bombing threw all of that out the window. Furthermore, the setting of the bombs in Samarra took a significant amount of time, and the area was reportedly under American control.

Wednesday, Sept 6, 2006

While walking to Camp Democracy, I noticed how smelly and noisy this place is – and most of the smells are very bad! It does stink out loud – maybe that is why it is so noisy! There is construction and sidewalks closed all over the place.

First event I attended was a workshop by Antonia Juhasz, who wrote “The Bush Agenda: Invading the World One Economy At A Time” She talked about Iraq and privatization there. She also talked about how Saddam did not ‘play ball’ with the USA like he was supposed to, which really got to Bush Sr. Apparently, Bush Sr. was very supportive of Saddam in the beginning of his presidency, as was the Reagan administration. Her book looks like it has a ton of information.

Next event was with Bill Blum, author of “Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II.” He said that about 15% of the US population believes that what America does is for “the good” and our government always means well – and there is no convincing them otherwise. He said there is no moral factor in the DNA of the US foreign policy.

Then Rep. Waters showed up and spoke a bit. She thanked us for taking our country in a new direction, and she cited the Lamont supporters in particular. When asked about supporting a candidate who is anti-Iraq war (like Lamont) in New York (who is running against Hillary Clinton), she dodged the question and said we should watch H. Clinton and listen to what she says and does and that we should stop her from running for president, not stopped from running for US Senate. (Later, a fellow participant pointed out that Waters did not address the question about supporting Clinton’s opponent in the primary. He also commented that Jews having a homeland in Israel is false – we all have a homeland and it is called the earth.)

Next was a musical performance by Disappear Fear. A very young and very skinny young women sang her songs of peace and justice, and overcoming fears. She told the story of Peter (of Peter, Paul & Mary fame) going to Vietnam to perform a couple of years back and saying “I am just one person, but I am sorry.” That had a profound effect on the audience there in Vietnam. She gave me a sticker when she was leaving.

Well, we then had Rev. Lennox Yearwood speak, and while I agree with everything he says, I feel I am being yelled out while he is talking. A single-payer health care system speaker, Joel Segal from Rep. Conyer’s office, followed the talk by Rev. Yearwood. I also agree with single-payer health care system, but I tried in 1993 to promote that idea and the vast majority of Americans were too stupid to support it, so I gave up the idea. I think Americans are entitled to have what the majority of them want, as long as it is only hurting them. And with this issue, it is surely only hurting them. Rep. Lee came and spoke a few words to our group also.

Then, Rep. Woolsey showed up and she thanked us for bringing passion to this struggle for peace, and says she will not give up the fight until US troops come home. She said the real problem with this administration is the idea that “might makes right”. She helped write S.M.A.R.T. security plan in conjunction with FCNL and PSR. She is most concerned about children. In the recent Lebanon-Israeli conflict, children made up one-third of the casualties. Also, 40% of the Iraq population is under age 14. She is calling to end all wars. A member of the audience asked what she can do to pressure her Senator and congressman to join out of Iraq caucus, and Woolsey said the best thing is to get more people speaking out on the issue, because if enough pressure is put on the elected officials, they will change their positions. SHE IS MY HERO!! I JUST LOVE THIS CONGRESSWOMEN.

Rep. McDermit spoke next about PTSD and DU – he also talked about single payer health care. Rep. McGovern also spoke and he said that he feels the climate in America is the worst ever in his life. McGovern’s bill cuts funding for war. He said it is not patriotic to be silent.

I got to shake hands with Waters, Woolsey, Lee, McDermit, and McGovern. I told them that I wanted to shake hands with as many good legislators as I could. Also, the overall group at this event was rather small, with about 50 to 100 people there total. Yet, there were Russian and Japanese TV crews there covering what was happening. TruthOut.org was also filming there, but there were no American TV crews there.

It was a long day, but very interesting. Tomorrow I start lobbying.