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CounterPunch
February
19, 2003
A Short Quiz
We
Must Lead this Country to a More Just Future
by DAVID KRIEGER
(The following remarks were made on
the occasion of the Santa Barbara Peace March on February 15,
2003. Some 5,000 demonstrators of all ages marched down the main
street of town, many carrying highly creative placards opposing
war against Iraq. Following the Peace March a rally was held
in De La Guerra Plaza, one day hopefully to become De La Pax
Plaza.)
You all look so beautiful from where I am standing,
and your signs contain so much wisdom. Wasn't our march today
wonderful, in solidarity with protesters for peace marching all
over our planet?
I have a short quiz for you. It isn't
very hard. Please shout out your answers loud enough so that
they may be heard in Washington.
Who is the leader in the world who poses
the greatest threat to our democracy?
Who is the leader in the world who has
10,000 nuclear weapons and is making contingency plans to use
them?
Who is the leader in the world whose
military has ordered 100,000 body bags?
Who is the leader in the world who is
willing to risk American lives for Iraqi oil?
Who is the leader in the world whose
military has a "Shock and Awe" plan to fire up to 800
cruise missiles in two days against a country with half its population
15 years old or younger?
Who is the leader in the world who is
threatening an illegal war outside the authority of the United
Nations Security Council and telling the United Nations it is
irrelevant?
Who is the leader we must work to impeach?
Nelson Mandela recently described Mr.
Bush as "a president who has no foresight, who cannot think
properly...."
Nelson Mandela also had a message for
us: "I am happy that the people of the world especially
those of the United States of America are standing up and opposing
their own President."
That is what we are doing today opposing
a president who would lead us into a senseless, illegal and immoral
war.
Our job is to turn this country around
so that it can again connect with its democratic roots and its
highest values. We must stop this president who was not popularly
elected by the American people from leading us into lawless,
endless war, a world of global chaos in which the highest values
are greed and might makes right. A war against Iraq will stimulate
new terrorist threats against the United States and our European
allies, among its many terrible consequences that are not being
adequately considered in the Bush administration's rush to war.
It is up to the people of this country
to lead it back from the brink of war. We must lead our country,
with all its power, to become a beacon of light and decency in
the world. This can only happen if, as a people, we are willing
to reexamine our policies, and to lead by our own example. We
can become a country that is just, decent, generous and respected.
It is up to us. The future is in our
hands.
David Krieger
is president of the Nuclear
Age Peace Foundation. He can be contacted at dkrieger@napf.org.
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February 15
/ 16, 2003
Alexander
Cockburn
Colin
Powell and the Great "Intelligence Fraud"
Rep. Dennis
Kucinich
The Whole World is Watching
Edward Said
A Monumental Hypocrisy
Wouter Hijink
Report from Amsterdam
"War: Do Not Feed!"
Linda Heard
At Last! Proud to be British
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Taking a Stand on Iraq
Robert Fisk
The Case Against War
Lev Grinberg
Lessons from Israel
A War Without Legitimacy
Chris Floyd
Cold Fronts:
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Ahmad Faruqui
Stepping Back from the Brink of War
Norman Madarasz
French Kisses from the Citizens of France
Adam Lebowitz
Scott Ritter in Tokyo
Kurt Nimmo
Bring Us the Head of Osama bin Laden
Forrest Hylton
The Revolt in Bolivia
Col. Dan Smith
Irrelevance and Credibility:
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Wayne Madsen
The Lies of Tom Lantos
Ranjit Hoskote
The Invisible Modernities of the Islamic World
Emily Zitter-Smith
Who's Safe Now?
An American in Cairo
Rich Procter
Anybody Remember the Powell Doctrine?
Poets Basement:
Eliot
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