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VETERANS MEET IN PORTLAND, CHART COURSE FOR COMING YEAR
At its 26th Annual Convention in Portland, Oregon, last week, members of Veterans For Peace huddled with a wide range of experts – on everything from how to deal with military recruiters in schools, to how to deal with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) – and everything in between.
Some 300 VFP members from 36 states were joined by 100 members of Iraq Veterans Against the War and several members from Military Families Speak Out.
Speakers included authors Robert Jensen, S. Brian Willson, Ed Tick, David Philipps, Blasé Bonpane and Jessica Goodell and Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, Kathy Kelly.
Discussion panels included Transformational Healing for Combat Vets and Their Families; Veterans in the Criminal Justice System; Helping G.I.s Get Out of the Military; Military Sexual Trauma; Organizing Grassroots Restitution for the People of Iraq; Legislation to Benefit Survivors of Agent Orange in Vietnam; the psychological effects of war on suvivors; Putting Social Media to Work; A Primer for Political Remix Videos and how to use the tactics of non-violence in a violent world.
The delegates debated and adopted resolutions on diverse issues, such as reducing the military budget, abolishing corporate personhood, the health effects of depleted uranium munitions; impeaching President Obama for war crimes and supporting Palestinian rights under international law.
Delegates also self-organized a dozen caucuses to share experiences on topics as varied as therapists and social workers working with veterans, women’s issues, G.I. resisters and military medical personnel.
The four-day convention contained within it a film festival and a veterans' art exhibit.
VFP is a national, humanitarian and educational organization with over 100 chapters and members from the Spanish Civil War, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Panama, El Salvador, Iraq, Afghanistan and every period, hot and cold, in between.
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It would seem to me that the headline should be "Veterans For Peace calls for Obama's impeachment". The emphasis of the story should be that VFP in a democratic vote by its membership present at their annual convention calls for Obama's impeachment because of
· his prosecution of "illegal wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Libya"
· "U.S. military used and continues to use depleted uranium munitions, cluster bombs and white phosphorous in densely populated areas in violation of U.S. laws and international laws..."
· "millions upon millions of Iraqi, Afghani, Pakistani, Yemeni, Somali, and Libyan civilians have been maimed, poisoned, displaced from their homes, and killed in a direct result of ongoing, illegal acts of war by the United States"
· "illegal, immoral and counterproductive detainee torture and brutalization at the hands of the U.S. military’s Immediate Reaction Force continue at Guantanamo under the Obama administration and in particular, the torture of Pfc. Bradley Manning at Quantico, Virginia"
· "President Obama is an accessory after the fact in obstructing justice by failing to order the Department of Justice to initiate investigations into numerous and blatant U.S. war crimes committed by the Bush administration, for which it is manifestly accountable under the law"
· "millions of Americans, including Veterans For Peace and Prosecute Them Now, supported the impeachment of Bush/Cheney for the same war crimes that are being committed now by Obama in violation of the U.S. Constitution, U.S. federal laws, the United Nations Charter, the Hague Convention, the Geneva Conventions, The United Nations Convention Against Torture and the Nuremberg Tribunal Charter"
· "Veterans For Peace and Prosecute Them Now are committed to the stated mission to restrain our government from intervening overtly and covertly in the internal affairs of other nations, to seek justice for veterans and victims of war, to increase public awareness of the exact costs of war, and to abolish war as an instrument of national policy"
"Therefore Be It Resolved that Veterans For Peace call on the U.S. House of Representatives to immediately begin impeachment proceedings against President Barack H. Obama for failure to uphold his sworn oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America from all enemies foreign and domestic, and for his commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity, obstruction of justice and the violation of numerous national and international laws, treaties and conventions."
http://veteransforpeace.org/convention_resolutions_2011a.vp.html
This is news. The other issues at the convention such as support for PTSD wounded soldiers and efforts to combat military recruitment in our schools are important, but within VFP and the anti war movement in general they are all non controversial. Calling for Obama's impeachment, on the other hand, was hardly a slam dunk at the convention and the resolution came from within the membership and not the leadership of the organization. Even so, it prevailed and I personally am proud of my organization Veterans For Peace for taking this ethical position in a U.S. society, dazed and bewildered by the twin effects of our wars for empire and the "30 Year War on the Working Class" brought to us by U.S. globalized capitalism. G