Message To America's Students: The War, The Draft, Your Future
Iris Cohen
U.S. troops sent to war half a world away. American foreign policy
controlled by an arrogant elite, bent on projecting military power
around the globe. A public misled into supporting an unconstitutional
war founded on deceit and fabrications.
As the death toll mounts, we hear claims that the war is nearly won,
that victory is just around the corner. But victory never arrives.
As the public loses confidence in the government, the government
questions the patriotism of any who express doubt about the war.
When a presidential election arrives, both the Democrat and Republican
nominees embrace the policy of continued war.
The military draft comes to dominate the lives of America's young, and
vast numbers who believe the war to be a senseless blunder are faced
with fighting a war they do not believe in, or facing exile or prison.
The year was 1968. Because voters had no choice that November, the
Vietnam War continued for another six years. Hundreds of thousands of
Americans like you died, were maimed, or suffered from diseases like
malaria. A far greater number of Vietnamese died.
Today, the war is in the quicksands and alleys of Iraq. Once again,
under the pressure of a determined resistance, we see an American war
policy being slowly torn apart at the seams, while the candidates urge
us to "stay the course" in this tragic misadventure. Today's
Presidential candidates are not Nixon and Humphrey, they are now Bush
and Kerry.
Once again, there is one overriding truth: If war is the only choice in
this election, then war we will have.
Today enlistments in the Reserves and National Guard are declining. The
Pentagon is quietly recruiting new members to fill local draft boards,
as the machinery for drafting a new generation of young Americans is
being quietly put into place.
Young Americans need to know that a train is coming, and it could run
over their generation in the same way that the Vietnam War devastated
the lives of those who came of age in the sixties.
I am running for President, and have been against this war from the
beginning. We must not waste lives in order to control and waste more
oil. Stand with us and we may yet salvage your future and Americas'
future from this looming disaster.
Sincerely,
Ralph Nader
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the 75th anniversary of the Communist Party USA. Marilyn
Clement is a co-organizer of the WILPF's Sister-to-Sister Cuba project. The
WILPF also issued a condemnation of Clinton's Cuba policy in 1998. Bernstein
was also quoted as saying she believes Cuba is the paradigm of democracy.
IFCO does not limit its activity to pro-Castro factions, though. Its
management maintains relationships with extremist Islamist groups as well.
Walker travels frequently to Iraq, usually alongside Ramsey Clark. IFCO is a
member of ANSWER Steering Committee.) Bernstein is a member of the American
Muslim Council's campaign against the use of secret evidence. Clement met
with Palestinians during a WILPF "solidarity" conference in May 2002. IFCO
is also a fiscal sponsor of the National Coalition to Protect Political
Freedom (NCPPF). The co-founder of NCPPF was the recently indicted terrorist
financier Sami Al-Arian.
However, NION's links with Muslim terrorists are not just indirect, through
IFCO. NION invited both Sami Al-Arian and Lynne Stewart to address their
October 6, 2002 rally in Central Park. Stewart was indicted for passing
messages on behalf of her terrorist client Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman.
One of the members of NION's Advisory Board, Abdeen Jabara, is a member of
the legal advisory board for the American Muslim Council. He is a past
president of the Arab-American Ant-Discrimination Committee, a board member
of William Kunstler's Center for Constitutional Rights, and a co-counsel
with Lynne Stewart for Sheik Rahman, the terrorist convicted for the 1993
World Trade Center bombing.
The American Muslim Council is one of the current members of Al-Arian's
NCPPF (the same group to which IFCO's Bernstein belongs). Leaders of the AMC
have been quoted as praising Hamas and Hezbollah. Jabara's AMC advisory
board colleagues include Fakhri Al-Barzinji. Al-Barzinji is involved in
Mar-Jac Poultry, which was raided l