Letter to Rep Shuler today

Today, due to the fact that I have LOADS of free time on my hands, ha ha, I wrote a letter to Rep. Shuler, who happens to be my representative. I included the picture on this blog post in the letter:

This picture was taken recently in Baghdad. The walls (that were put up by the US troops) are very unpopular there – they wrote NO NO AMERICA and NO NO OCCUPATION to show their displeasure with these walls and the presence of US troops in their country.

The Iraqi people have been holding peaceful demonstrations for years now, and they are always saying that the US troops should leave. Last spring, they had two million people at a demonstration. On April 9, 2004 – the one year anniversary of the pulling down of Saddam’s statue – there were 5 or 6 million people at a mass demonstration. They burned Saddam, Bush and Blair in effigy that day. There was a driving ban that day, so the Iraqis had to walk for miles to get to that mass demonstration. Since the population of Iraq is about one tenth or less than the USA, it would be like 50 or 60 million people showing up in DC to protest.

While there are protests every week in Iraq, there has not been that large of a demonstration since the one in April 2004 in Baghdad. They are much smaller now, with only hundreds or thousands of Iraqis showing up. I guess they feel that peaceful demonstrations won’t get them what they want, so they moved on to other things. I imagine you can figure out what those “other things” actually are.

Now, there are 3,800 US military killed in this illegal war and occupation of Iraq. But that is nothing compared to the suffering that the Iraqi people have faced. There is likely at least a million dead and four to six million refugees. The International Red Cross/Crescent has said that Iraq is in a crisis that is unprecedented in it’s history.

Just last week, the WNC Peace Coalition and First Congressional Church had an Iraq war victim come to Asheville. I invited the staff of your office, Representative Shuler, but none came. It was a little girl named Salee who came. She lost her brother, her best friend, and the bottom of both her legs to a US missile strike. When I say “lost” I mean that they were blown to bits – right in front of her eyes. Her little sister was hurt also. Salee is in the US getting medical treatment and prosthetics for her legs. At this event, a local man named Jason stood up to speak. He was formerly in the US Army and he served in Iraq. He apologized for what our country has done to the country of Iraq.

It is my opinion that the people who fund this war and who profit from it are the ones who should be apologizing, not our soldiers.

I am including a paper that has information on bills in the US House of Representatives that deal with Iran and Iraq. I would like to urge Rep Shuler to co-sponsor these bills. One bill is to ONLY fund re-deployment from Iraq, and to stop funding the ongoing illegal occupation. Some other bills are to prevent another war with Iran. There is lots of war-mongering talk about Iran, and I like to think that the US government is really not stupid enough to actually go and bomb Iran. That would result in the deaths of tens of millions of people in Iran, and in the deaths of tens of thousands of US troops in Iraq. But if they are that stupid and that evil, then the US government in power in 2007/2008 will go down in history as being equivalent to Hitler and his government.

I am sickened by what my country is doing. I want it to STOP NOW. I want the illegal occupation of Iraq to STOP NOW. I want the mass murders to STOP NOW. I want the torture and kidnapping to STOP NOW. I want the illegal imprisonments without the rights of habeas corpus to STOP NOW. I want the war-mongering towards Iran, and the lies about that country to STOP NOW.

I want a country that actually believes and acts upon the saying “and liberty and justice for all” both in the USA and in the world. I want to stop being ashamed of this country of my birth.

Well, I also called Rep. Shuler's office - once in DC, and twice in Asheville. The first call was pretty routine - I loaned a copy of the movie 'THE ROAD TO GUANTANAMO' to Randy Flack, who works at Shuler's office here in Asheville. I loaned it to him last July or so, when he told me that he would watch it if I dropped it off for him. So, I did. Now, the students at Warren Wilson would like to watch it, so I called to ask for it back. Bet you a donut that Randy Flack never found time to watch it. And, since he has not watched it, I guess he can remain ignorant of what the US government is doing. Or make that claim, anyway.

I found out today that Rep. Shuler decided to vote to condemn the Move On ad, and that it passed the house, just like it passed the senate. Well, I called up in DC and told them that condemning free speech in a newspaper ad by US congress people might have some impact on free speech, but we can always hope for the best. The "best" in this case would be the that the majority of Americans realize that those congress people are just clowns, and should be ignored.

I then called the Asheville office to talk with Suzanna, who I used to respect. Well, she told me that while free speech issues is important, there are other more important things going on, and besides, Shuler cannot afford to upset the conservatives in our district. (I totally fail to see why upsetting some wingnuts is of any importance in the face of losing our Constitution. But then, I fail to see why anyone would want to be elected to office if they are totally ineffective, either). Suzanna is handing a bunch of cases of people who are facing a bunch of problems. Well, she did not break the confidentially that she is required to keep. But, I would suspect that these people who are suffering, are mainly suffering because of their own choices in life, or because of their government's policies, or a combination of both those things.

For example, if a person is having difficultly getting adequate health care, that is because the US spends 50% of EVERY tax dollar they collect on military stuff instead of providing health care for it's citizens. Furthermore, they keep electing people to office who will not stop the for-profit health insurance industry, and therefore nothing changes. And whatever pain comes to an American from this policy, is pain they worked hard to achieve. And maybe someday they will learn. Or maybe not.

Anyway, after talking with her, I ran some errands and she called me this time. She said she had left a message saying that Shuler had not voted against the Move On ad and that I didn't know what I was talking about. She apologized for that. She had just gotten word that Shuler had voted on this bill, or whatever it was. I mentioned to her how I had left invitations to the event with Salee, the Iraqi girl who was visiting Asheville. No one from their office came, and no one who is part of the local Democratic party came either. Suzanna had some excuse about being totally drained from work, etc, etc.

It was after I hung up that I listened to the message she had left, where she told me that I didn't know what I was talking about, it was the senate that voted, not the house and I should get my facts straight before calling with an opinion.

Well, I do know what I am talking about. I do have my facts straight, although I do make mistakes sometimes (I made two mistakes in the email to the Peace Coalition - two times I listed the WRONG month of some event. That's kinda unusual for me.)

Anyway, I do know that while our government is going around committing genocide, kidnapping, torture, and god-knows-what-else around the planet, they are tearing apart our US Constitution. I do know that whatever Americans are suffering, it is nothing compared the suffering visited on the Iraqi people (hint: go read my blog post for Iraq Today right now!). I do know that getting the democrats in the majority of the house and senate has not made a bit of difference in acknowledging or stopping the suffering visited on the Iraqi people. (hint: go watch the You Tube video on Iraq Today right now! It goes after the "innocent bystander" myth that the democrats just seem to love.) I do know that the Iraqi people did not make decisions to have this hell on earth visited on them, which is quite unlike what most Americans have done. They have made the decisions that have lead to most of the problems they are facing.

And another thing I know - none of the local democrats or people in Shuler's office called me up and said "I cannot come to the event with Salee, but I would like to help and make a donation."

Nope, that did not happen.

Those local democrats think they are improving things just by registering voters and getting a democrat in office - who does nothing to stop this illegal and immoral genocide and occupation, and helps the bushies destroy our constitution. Yeah, real progress there.

Of course, on top of this - the US senate today voted to pass an amendment threatening Iran. I cannot pollute my blog by even typing the names of the evil ones behind this amendment. Now, I personally don't think that the US will bomb Iran in the next few years - they are just working on making them weaker, reducing their power, making them outcasts of the Middle East. They may have the long term goal of attacking them, but like with Iraq, they will work hard on making them much weaker first. And that will likely happen under a democratic president starting in 2009.

What I do know is that I am sick to death of hearing these people in DC with their disgusting war-mongering ways and their disgusting war-mongering talk.

I am sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, of this evil insane pattern of behavior. I am sick of my country killing other people who did nothing to them, sick of the torture, sick of the hypocrisy.

Well, time for me to go and update my "Faces of Grief" blog. Where I will look at the pictures of the suffering of the Iraqi people and put it on that blog. I wonder how many pictures I will make it through before I start crying.

I am so ashamed of my country of birth, so very ashamed.

I am saddened that I can no longer respect Americans who I used to have respect for.


Please note this message from local activists:

The drumbeat to war with Iran is getting louder and louder. There is a call from the First Strike Emergency Response Group to meet at 5pm at Vance Monument in the event we strike Iran and at 5pm the day after. Please spread the word.

I sure hope this is one time I am right and that there will not be a bombing run by the US or Israel on the country of Iran. But if there is, it may end by bringing war directly to the front porches of all Americans, instead of a sanitized version they see on their TVs.

And I do know what I am talking about, even if I make a mistake or two.