March
14, 2008
When
Condoleezza Rice testified before Congress on Wednesday, we
were there with bloody hands.
As we approach the fifth anniversary of this obscene war, we
must stop Congress from funding it and stop the military
recruiters from enticing our youth to fight in it. As we
deepen our commitment, we are grateful beyond words to receive
the support of someone who knows the human cost of war first
hand: Ron
Kovic.
Ron,
who wrote Born
on the Fourth of July,
is a former US Marine Corp Sergeant who was shot and paralyzed
from his mid-chest down during his second tour of duty in
Vietnam in 1968. He writes:
"I
am sending my complete support and admiration to all those now
involved in the courageous struggle to stop military
recruitment in Berkeley and around the country.
Not since the Vietnam War protests of the late sixties has
there been a cause more just than the one you are now engaged
in.
Over
the past five years, I have watched in horror the mirror image
of another Vietnam unfolding in Iraq. So many similarities, so
many things said that remind me of that war thirty years ago
which left me paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair for life.
Refusing to learn from the lessons of Vietnam, our government
continues to pursue a policy of deception, distortion,
manipulation and denial. As
we approach the fifth anniversary of this tragic and senseless
war, I can not help but think of the young men and women who
have been wounded, nearly 30,000,
flooding Walter Reed, Bethesda, Brooke Army Medical Center and
Veterans Hospitals all across our country. Paraplegics,
amputees, burn victims, the blinded and maimed, shocked and
stunned, brain damaged and psychologically stressed, a whole
new generation of severely maimed who were not even born when
I came home wounded to the Bronx Veterans Hospital in 1968.
It
is time to use every means of creative nonviolent civil
disobedience to stop the war machine. Military recruiters must
be confronted in every high school, every campus, every
recruiting office, on every street corner, in every town and
city across America.
The
days of deceiving, manipulating and victimizing our young
people must end. I stand with you in this courageous fight and
I am confident your actions in the days ahead will inspire
countless others across our country to do everything they can
to end this deeply immoral and illegal war!"
Let
us honor the sacrifice and courage of Ron Kovics by standing
up and saying "No
More!"
Please join us in Washington, DC or one of our events around
the country to protest Five
Years Too Many
or find
a vigil near you.
To find out more about our counter-recruitment actions, click
here.
And
click
here
to tell Congress, who will soon vote on Bush's request for
another $100 billion for war, to only fund the safe and speedy
withdrawal of our troops.
Thank
you for helping us reclaim the future for our young people and
our country.
With
renewed determination, Dana, Desiree,
Farida, Gael, Gayle, Jodie, Liz, Medea, Nancy, Rae, Tighe and
Vin
LOCAL
SPOTLIGHT:
Thank
you to everyone who attended one of CODEPINK's six
regional activist trainings over International Women's Day
weekend! The
camps gave inspiration, taught new skills, and provided
support to hundreds of women. More...
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