Today was a struggle we had little sleep driving from last night and then trying to find parking which was forever challenging, and then Raed having to get up early early in the morning to be on the radio show Democracy Now! to talk about the elections and the execution verdict of Saddam Hussain (go to the Nov 4 post). But we all servived it and hope for a good parking spot tonight.
Today is also a different day because now the Democrats will have the majority come January instead of being kept out of congressional meetings, they will be running the show after 12 years of Republicans. Although we do not see this as a solution or the silver lining it is a ray of hope.
We were lucky to have Geoffrey Millard from Iraq Veterans Against the War join our panel today! 
Antonia started off the talk with what she hopes is demanded of congress in the first 100 days of their taking office.
First and for most is the Billions of dollars paid to US corporations to reconstruct Iraq be reallocated to Iraqi companies!
Of the 1,300 reconstruction projects given to 150 US companies, 66 projects have been assessed by the Iraq Inspector General and all have been found to be FAILED projects (not reaching their goals in one way or another, and have misspent monies).
Rostam said we need to remain vigilant against US policy on Iran, calling for an end to economic sanctions and any actions threatening to bomb or attack Iran. Unfortunately having the democrats in control of the congress does not change much for US policy toward Iran. Tom Lantos (D-CA) will be the chair of the House International Relations Committee and he acts as a ‘blood enemy of Iran’. He has pushed forward most of the economic sanctions of Iran. If that wasn’t bad enough Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida) will be the Co-Chair and she equally demonizes Iran.
Raed reminded us that what has happened to Iraq under the republicans is not an exception of US foreign policy toward Iraq. There have been 16 years of attacks on Iraq first through the imposition of broad economic sanctions in August 1990 that killed millions, next the Gulf war in 1991 and now the current war.
Geoffery talked about how the Iraq veterans are not getting the support from the US government that they need and deserve. For example there is no current increase in funding to cover the additional medical care needs of Iraq vets. Geoffery spoke about how we need to press the new congress to address these gaps, because the government is not supporting its troops if they are not taking care of them. He said, we also need to ensure the reconstruction of Iraq happens by Iraqi’s that in order for Iraqi’s to rebuild their economy they need to control reconstruction.
The students at Brooklyn College were very engaged, they asked a lot of good questions concerning reconstruction in Iraq, the sectarian violence and Iraq’s history.
Raed explained that Iraq has had 4 revolutions in the 20th century that Iraqi’s are certainly capable of taking care of themselves. They have rebuilt their country several times. He said, “The best thing that can happen for social movements and movements for change and nations is to be left alone.” Foreign interventions weaken life in the world, not only because Iraq and other countries are being destroyed but because peoples are also getting destroyed, oppression of people’s movements is furthered. Crushing the potential for change and thus taking more time for change to be realized.
Raed talked about the arrogance in foreign interventions, that the US line is, ‘even though your country existed for 4 to 5,000 years before our country you need US to save you.’ This is clearly false. Iraqi’s can do anything themselves, their history shows us that.
Wespac Foundation
We were so happy to make it to the event, we were unable to bring the photo exhibit as it was pooring rain all day and the roads north of Manhattan were flooded. We abandoned the road and parked the van and jumped on the train with minutes to spare to arrive at the event only a few min. late. Antonia was on time as she took the train straight from a radio interview. Who knew we would have this kind of monsoon whether.
I had been looking forward to meet the Wespac Foundation, they have a very strong social justice mission and have been focusing on the Middle East in recent years especially Palestine. Little did I know my friend Chralie from ETAN is one of the founders!
The panel was asked a lot of important questions about the situation on the ground in Iraq. Raed explained there are many socio-political groups in Iraq demanding a time table for a withdrawl of the troops. He said, one such group organized a petition for calling for a time table that 1 million Iraqi’s signed in 3 months. But in the foreign press this courageous statement by 1 million Iraqi’s was not covered.
Even when the Iraqi Parliment puts forth proposals for peace like “The Iraq Reconciliation and Peace Plan” launched on June 25, 2006 international press hardly covers it. But now that the Iraq Study Group has called on the Iraqi government to work for reconciliation, the idea is getting some traction.
Some of the Wespac members suggested actions people can take upstate to move an anti-war agenda in congress. Particularly urging Nita Lowey (D-Westchester/Rockland, NY), a ranking democrat on the Foreign Aid House Appropriations Subcommittee, which funds the Iraq Inspector General.
Wespac members said Americans need to be in the habit of contacting their representatives. Raed, echoed this by saying he tries to contact them several times a month at least by phone.
1. Ask for all reconstruction monies to go to Iraqi companies.
2. Ask for our representative’s position on the Middle East Free Trade Area.
3. Ask them what their position on Iran is, and if they say they see Iran as a serious national security threat, ask them who are they comparing Iran to?
Iran has had nuclear capability for over 30 years. Why do you now believe they are such a threat when inspections have shown they are not building nuclear weapons and our own State Department says Iran is 5 to 10 years away from having the capacity to do so if they chose to.
We were sad after the event because this was Antonia’s last day on the tour. Unfortunatley we were not able to go out for a party afterwards. Thank you so much Antonia, and hope to see you soon!!
