Under the banner of “Fund People’s Needs—Not War!”
I am not an anti-Semite, I just blame Jews for everything
Ron Kovic and the Islamic (terrorist) front groups are quoted to the fullest extent possible in order to avoid taking them out of context.
“On Saturday, March 20, people will take to the streets in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and in other cities across the country and around the world to say: “End Occupation—Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine” and “Fund People’s Needs—Not War!”
Ron Kovic, Vietnam Veteran and author of “Born on the Fourth of July,” will be leading the Mass March in Los Angeles. Kovic will be marching with Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, students, working people and thousands of others. Kovic will also be a featured speaker at the rally.
Ron Kovic issued this passionate call to action, urging everyone to hit the streets in protest on March 20:
“Like many Americans who served in Vietnam and those now serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, and countless human beings throughout history, I had been willing to give my life for my country with little knowledge or awareness of what that really meant. I trusted and believed and had no reason to doubt the sincerity or motives of my government.
“America is headed in the wrong direction, and I want to encourage everyone to join with us … to once again proudly and passionately fill the streets of our country and raise your voices on behalf of peace and nonviolence and an end to the war in Afghanistan. War is not the answer. Violence is not the solution. A more peaceful world is possible.”
The March 20 action recognizes that only the people can end the wars and occupations being carried out by the U.S. or its proxies against the peoples of Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, the Philippines, Pakistan and elsewhere.
Contrary to its “anti-war” image, the Obama administration has called for a major increase in the obscene, trillion-dollar military budget, and the escalation of the war on Afghanistan.
In the United States, millions of people have lost or will lose their homes, jobs and health care due to the economic crisis. Funding for schools, colleges, health care and other programs has been slashed. At the same time, the White House and Congress handed over trillions of dollars to the biggest banks, insurance companies and investors—the same ones who caused the crisis through their wild risk-taking in search of ever-greater profits. Another trillion will go to the military-industrial corporations.
On July 4 2009, Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic and hundreds of U.S. citizens planned to fly out from JFK to Cairo, where they planned to form a convoy of hundreds of vehicles carrying medical aid and head into Gaza. They planned to be in Egypt exactly one month to the day from when President Obama delivered his historic speech offering a new and more egalitarian relationship between the U.S. and the Muslim world. And that speech makes it all the more imperative that anyone and everyone gets on board this convoy.
For Obama’s speech, like his election campaign and presidency, can be looked at two ways. There were the expressions of general support for Israel and continuity in foreign policy, which it would be naïve not to expect from any U.S. president.
How easy it would be to slump into the cynical and knowing snorting that has been such an unappealing trait of too much of the left for far too long. Because at the same time, his skillful appeal for a more respectful East-West dialogue opens up many roads for friends of Palestine and the Arab cause. If you doubt that, look at the frenzied reaction of the Israeli right, which, in its usual understated way, is likening opposition to the settlement program to genocidal murder.
A Truthdig interview with Kovic:
Truthdig: Has this war surpassed the Vietnam War in any way?
Kovic: I think President Bush plans to provoke an even wider war in the Middle East in the coming months. That’s my prediction. He is going to escalate the war by sending more troops to Iraq in a war that we cannot win—a war that is only going to cause more violence, make us even bigger targets of terrorist attacks.
Like many veterans of the Vietnam War, I’ve been in this wheelchair for almost 40 years. I’ve lived with the wounds of American foreign policy for almost four decades now. I saw American foreign policy firsthand, as did many others of my generation. And we learned the lessons of that war. I have serious doubts whether President Bush or the architects of this particular policy in the Middle East right now learned those lessons. And how many of those who are making the decision this week—how many of those talking heads, those so-called experts, who made the decision to have a troop surge, to escalate this war, to put more young men and women’s lives in harm’s way, to put more Iraqi civilians at risk—how many of them really served in a war, how many really understand the human cost of a war? How many really understand what it means to be wounded—whether you’re American or Iraqi? How many understand what it means to come home wounded? What it means to lose a son or daughter in a war? How many of them have been directly affected by this war?
Truthdig: We hear so much about “support the troops” while they’re in war. But what does it mean to support the troops when so many of them are coming back home wounded?
Kovic: I don’t see how this administration is supporting the troops when they’re clearly cutting back the budgets of the veterans hospitals around the country. That is outrageous. That is unacceptable. How can you spend billions of dollars fighting a war in Iraq and not care for those who are wounded when they come back home?
I have opposed this war from the very beginning. I was speaking out against it before it began. I sensed we were being deceived just as we were deceived during the Vietnam War. I wasn’t going to let it happen again. I made one promise to myself in 1968 after I was shot and paralyzed in Vietnam. (During those years that I was involved with the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, so I was speaking not only for myself, but for many, many other Vietnam veterans like myself who opposed that war, who went to jail with me.) We said back then, “We’re never going to allow what happened to our generation to ever happen again.” And to watch this nightmare unfold all over again….
And in particular this week, the outrage that not only I feel, but also all my brothers and sisters in the antiwar movement, and all my fellow citizens all over this country … that outrage that all of us feel, that the majority of the people of this country oppose this war, including many of our generals and the architects of this policy…. And yet the president of the United States is acting like a dictator. He’s not listening to the people. What do we have to do? How many demonstrations do we have to have? How many hearings and investigations do we have to have before this president begins to listen to the people? Because isn’t that what America is supposed to be about?
We can make a difference, and I think this is an important week of reflection. For every single American; not just me, Ron Kovic, sitting in this wheelchair, or people who have been directly affected by the wars of this government, and who have been so grievously injured by policies that should never have been to begin with—we are more important than we realize. I think this is a week of important reflection for all of us. We have to really think about the direction this country is heading in right now. We have to ask ourselves, “Have we done enough? Have we the courage to really say what needs to be said? Have we the courage to really do what needs to be done?” Because lives are at stake, and people are dying on both sides. This is unacceptable. This is outrageous. Rather than listening to the voice of the people of the United States, and rather than listening to the Iraq Study Group’s conclusions, rather than listening to reason, the president of the United States has decided to do the exact opposite. He’s putting us all in greater danger. He’s creating the potential for a wider war, for a potential cataclysm, and he’s putting Americans’ lives in jeopardy. If the United States is attacked again, if, God forbid, there’s another 9/11, it should be directly attributed to the fact that, this crucial week, Bush decided to push forward in this very reckless agenda.”
We feel the pain of every Palestinian child and family member who fell victim to the cruel reality created by Hamas 
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