Posted on 11/24/2006 2:18:35 PM PST by SmithL
When Republicans lost control of Congress in this month's midterm elections, there was plenty of cheering within the ranks of anti-war activists.
Yet that glee at the GOP defeat should not be mistaken for support for Democrats.
Although optimistic that the new majority in Congress will help their cause, activists emboldened by a vote largely seen as a referendum on the Iraq war intend to keep up, if not step up, pressure on Democrats and Republicans alike.
"Some people felt like celebrating and dancing" over the election's result, said East Bay activist Bob Hanson of Rossmoor Grandparents for Peace. "But most of us don't see that as the end of our problems."
While activists and Democrats said the two groups occupy some common ground, they remain on opposing sides of some key areas. Democrat leaders, for example, have not agreed to activists' demands for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.
"We don't want to see timetables; we want the troops home," said Bay Area activist Anne Roesler of Military Families Speak Out. "We're not going to back off; there's no way."
With that in mind, national anti-war organizations plan to tap into what they perceive as the electorate's increased anti-war sentiment. Activists have started new fundraising appeals and campaigns to inspire the grass roots and to compel Congress.
"The idea is really to capitalize on the momentum of this election and to try to move it forward as quickly as possible," said Nell Greenberg, spokeswoman for San Francisco-based Global Exchange, a human rights watchdog. "The Congress needs to listen to the will of the people."
Plans to push Congress to end the Iraq war include:
• Delivering gift baskets, each containing a clock, to as many as 400 members of Congress to send the message that the time for them to follow the electorate's anti-war lead is passing by.
• Organizing Capitol Hill lobbying on Jan. 3 and 4 for "an immediate exit strategy," for hearings on the Bush administration's conduct prior to and during the war and for the impeachment of the president.
• Organizing a mass protest in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 27 to call on Congress to take immediate action to end the Iraq war, and demonstrations around the nation in March to coincide with the fourth anniversary of the Iraq war's onset.
• Urging congressional action to spur the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, such as cutting funding for the war.
By no means will Democrats be out of the line of political fire, said University of San Francisco politics professor Stephen Zunes. Democrats are bigger targets now that the party is in a position to deliver on its midterm campaign anti-war rhetoric, he said.
"I think there's going to be even more emphasis in the lobbying and electoral politics realm," Zunes said. "There could even be threats of primary challenges in 2008 if the Democrats don't take more leadership on this."
Exit polls showing that midterm voters were frustrated at the war have boosted anti-war activists' political clout, Zunes said.
But Democratic leaders' relatively modest objectives mean that activists are "still going to have to fight for every inch," Zunes said. "Very few people in the anti-war movement trust the Democrats to take the lead."
Democrats such as Reps. Ellen Tauscher of Alamo and George Miller of Martinez, for example, prefer a phased withdrawal from Iraq. An immediate pullout would be impractical and hazardous, because it would put U.S. and Iraqi forces at risk, they have said.
"You have to withdraw in a manner which provides for, hopefully, the standing up of the Iraqis, if they choose to do so, and for the protection of our troops," said Miller, chairman of the House of Representatives' Democratic Policy Committee.
But to Roesler of Military Families Speak Out there is no room for compromise and little, if any, reason to believe that Democrats will move in the right direction without prodding.
"Talk is cheap," said Roesler, who is on the anti-war group's national advisory board. "The only way to stop this war at this point is to cut off funding. I honestly don't know if the Democrats have the backbone to do that."
Roesler and other members of Military Families Speak Out plan to travel to Washington, D.C., in early January to lobby Congress. They will repeat their demand for immediate action to end the war and continue to reject proposals for a phased withdrawal.
"This doesn't mean that we can sit back because Democrats now have control of Congress," said Roesler, who has a son in the Army preparing for his third tour in Iraq.
To an extent, the anti-war drumbeat for an immediate withdrawal is a tactical move, said Zunes. Activists' insistent demand is unlikely to succeed in bringing troops home now but probably improves the odds for a phased withdrawal, he said.
"The more pressure there is from the left, the more realistic the more moderate, nuanced anti-war voices on Capitol Hill then become," Zunes said.
Northern California activist Cindy Sheehan said that essentially was the message Democratic leaders delivered when she met with them last year.
"They said: 'You guys have to keep doing what you're doing on the outside; you have to keep saying out now; even though we're not saying it, you have to keep saying it, because that's the only way that things are going to change,'" Sheehan said.
At the same time, activists said they will continue to work closely with sympathetic Democrats, such as Miller and Michigan Rep. John Conyers, to reach common objectives.
For example, many activists want congressional hearings into the Bush administration's case for war and into the conduct of the war.
San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi, the incoming speaker of the House, has indicated that the party will launch hearings on the war. But she has ruled out initiating impeachment proceedings against the president.
Although activists have not dropped their impeachment demand, they are pleased at the prospect of Democrat-led congressional investigations, said Leslie Cagan, national coordinator of United for Peace and Justice.
"There's a whole lot of information that still needs to come out," Cagan said.
Yet anti-war activists remain leery of Democrats.
"Somebody asked me the other day: 'What is Congress going to do?'" Cagan said. "I said: 'The real issue is what are we going to do?'"
They are bound and determined to make this another Vietnam.
But, they won't...there HAS to be too many people that remember the aftermath of us pulling out of Vietnam to let that happen again.
Also...these planned marches and such...they just make the terrorists want to hit our troops more...the idiot protestors.
Liberals are counting on conservatives to sit back and complain while doing nothing. I intend to do no such thing.
I may not have voted for those democrats but I'm still a constituent and I intend to beat up on them the same way I beat up on the GOP. FReepers would never cut and run from terrorists, we damned well better not cut and run from democrats.
Americans voted for Change... Undefined change. Democrats know that cut and run did not play well with voters.
If they cut and run, and we get attacked with a similar attack to 9/11.. Bush's approval rating will go to 90 percent and the Democrats will be worse off than GIs at the end of the Vietnam war.
Remember that people including voters never blame themselves. They will blame the main stream media and Democrats for misleading them about the dangers of pulling out.
The 172nd Stryker Brigade will be returning to Fairbanks 5 Dec. Some are already arriving. They were scheduled to come home in Aug, but their tour was extended four months because of the problems in Baghdad. It's been 20 below for a month, which isn't much of a surprise.
"..........would never cut and run from terrorists, we damned well better not cut and run from democrats."
In my eyes, there is NO difference.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
I wish I had the power and money,...I would try to get together a counter protest with Viet vets..and people like myself that NEVER, EVER want that to happen again.
The other thing is....the Vietnamese were not going to follow us here..to continue killing Americans.
The terrorists that are in Iraq, WILL follow, and those that are already here will be emboldened to attack.
I was on a thread today that had way too many freepers that were calling for a US withdrawal also....very scary.
The 'RATS aren't going to pull out of Iraq. They need it as an issue in '08. LOL! Fools.
Totally incorrect terminology. They are not anti-war activists. The correct terminology for them is the enemies 5th Column. They are 5th Columnists!!!!:-(
Totally incorrect terminology. They are not anti-war activists. The correct terminology for them is the enemies 5th Column. They are 5th Columnists!!!!:-(
bookmark
Yes! We're going to install a draft, double the number of troops in Iraq before pulling out, completely defund the military...
Is anyone else following all this? Neither am I....
Waiting to hear the "If conservatives hadn't stayed home...." crapola from the GOP bootlickers.
Being anti-war is like being anti-earthquake, anti-comet hitting the earth, anti-tornado or anti-tidal wave. Oh how wonderful to be anti-war! It must feel so nice and sweet and fuzzy to be anti-war and anti all the bad things that make people feel icky. What children such people are. Silly, shallow people who have no concept of practical reality.
Truth hurts hmmm EEE? Screaming names at them doesn't make the truth any less the truth.
Boy are they going to be surprised to find out about 1/3 of the current Democrat Congress has to go back and run in red districts that voted 52% or more for GW Bush in 2004. The Democrats will make a bunch of noise about Iraq, they will do nothing. They all saw what happened to Lamont, the Cut and Run Now crowd's darling, in solid blue Vermont. The people who run the Democrat party are not stupid. They can see Iraq is an issue they don't have the votes in Congress to do anything about.
for later
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.