The Arvada Peace Vigil, newly renamed Colorado Citizens for Peace, held a 7th Congressional District candidate forum today at noon. The Vigil meets every Saturday at the intersection of 52nd Avenue and Wadsworth Boulevard to raise awareness for peace in Iraq.
Dave Chandler, Green Party candidate for U.S. House of Representatives for the 7th CD spoke and answered questions at the event. Also speaking was Herb Rubenstein, contesting for the Democratic nomination in the August 8 primary against Ed Perlmutter and Peggy Lamm. Lamm sent a spokesperson, but though the Perlmutter campaign said it would send a representative, it didn't.
Below find the text of Chandler's remarks.
Photo One: Dave Chandler speaking to the Arvada Peace Vigil.
Photo Two: Chandler with Peace Vigil organizer, Cindy Lowry, and Herb Rubenstein.
Text of Chandler's remarks:
Always remember this: The best way to keep the peace, is not to start wars.
My name is Dave Chandler and I’m running as the Green Party candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives for the 7th Congressional District because of a cause -- the cause of peace and justice. ...
Always remember this: The best way to keep the peace, is not to start wars.
My name is Dave Chandler and I’m running as the Green Party candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives for the 7th Congressional District because of a cause -- the cause of peace and justice.
I’m not a glad-hander or much of a self-promoter and I’m not a very polished politician. I ask you to vote for me in November because of the stands I take, and so that you can be true to your own conscience.
You won’t get upbeat talk or rhetoric from me about war or ending war ... because war is such serious business with tragic consequences.
So, I want to read you a few words that had a deep effect on me earlier this month from a young Iraqi woman -- in Iraq -- who calls herself “River” from her ‘Baghdad Burning’ blog:
“Rape. The latest of American atrocities. Though it's not really the latest -- it's just the one that's being publicized the most. The poor girl Abeer was neither the first to be raped by American troops, nor will she be the last. The only reason this rape was brought to light and publicized is that her whole immediate family were killed along with her.... Iraqis from the area say she was only 14. Fourteen. ...
... her parents and her five-year-old sister were also killed. ... Raise your heads high supporters of the 'liberation' -- your troops have made you proud today. ...:”
“River” wrote: “... It fills me with rage to hear about it and read about it. The pity I once had for foreign troops in Iraq is gone. It's been eradicated by the atrocities in Abu Ghraib, the deaths in Haditha and the latest news of rapes and killings. I look at them in their armored vehicles and to be honest -- I can't bring myself to care whether they are 19 or 39. I can't bring myself to care if they make it back home alive. ...
... Why don't the Americans just go home? They've done enough damage and we hear talk of how things will fall apart in Iraq if they 'cut and run', but the fact is that they aren't doing anything right now. How much worse can it get? People are being killed in the streets and in their own homes -- what's being done about it? Nothing. It's convenient for them -- Iraqis can kill each other and they can sit by and watch the bloodshed -- unless they want to join in with murder and rape.”
This is reality in Iraq. What have we done to bring such disdain upon our country? What have we done to “River” and thousands and thousands of Iraqis like her that rob her of her concern for the humanity of others? It is just so, so sad for me to read those words and know that these horrible things have been done in our name ... and this has been going on for three and a half years.
What “River” describes in her homeland is very different from the reality for most Americans here in our country.
It is very easy for many here, comfortable with 24/7 electrical power to run the dishwashing machine, the television, the air conditioner ... to talk tough about killing terrorists. It’s very easy for many with yellow magnet ribbons on the backs of their SUVs to nod their heads silently giving tacit approval to Bush's desire to "complete the mission" in Iraq.
It is too easy for most Americans to turn off the radio news, to change the channel on the television, or turn the page of the newspaper when there are reports of "collateral damage" that kill and maim innocent Iraqi civilians; or of the "cost of war" that blows-up U.S. troops; or of rage that leads to horrific atrocities from all sides.
But because of the comfort available to us, those who have taken time and made efforts like this Peace Vigil ... and the folks who blocked the recruiting office and were sentenced this week -- you are doing the important work for the future of the country and to bring peace to those suffering in Iraq ... and now Lebanon.
There are real, consequential tragedies taking place for real people because of George W. Bush's orders deploying U.S. troops into Iraq. Every person killed, or wounded American soldier, or mangled Sunni resistance fighter ... has a mother or father or brother or sister or son or daughter somewhere that feel the profound distress caused by this violent, chaotic and pointless U.S. occupation of Iraq.
How much more of this descent into the immoral morass of illegal war and occupation will Americans deny? Will we ever accept responsibility as trustees and stakeholders of this democratic republic and demand accountability from those placed in positions of responsibility -- for their irresponsible and reckless decisions?
Are American voters this November going to let a Bush/Rove propaganda campaign of negative smears against those proposing peace ... mask the real faces of death and loss?
Everyday that goes by, without the citizens of this land insisting NOW that enough is enough -- the killing must stop -- is another day that this country loses even more of its fragile moral standing among the nations of the world.
Our American troops need to come home, NOW.
And, note this nugget of wisdom from Mahatma Gandhi:
“Permanent good can never be the outcome of untruth and violence.”
The war on Iraq was based on lies, untruths. The lie that Bush and Cheney told that there were weapons of mass destruction that were an “urgent” threat. And the lie that Iraq was involved somehow with the September 11 attacks.
Tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have been killed because of those lies. Today, 2,574 U.S. troops have been killed because of those lies.
Bush and Cheney should resign in disgrace, I call for Bush and Cheney to resign TODAY!
Of course, having no honor, they won’t.
So, they should be impeached by the U.S. House and brought to trial in the U.S. Senate.
My two preeminent promises if I am elected to Congress are these:
One -- to urge and support the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
And, two -- to urge and support the impeachment by the House of George W. Bush and Dick “Chickenhawk” Cheney for high war crimes and misdemeanors.
When these two goals are accomplished, then and only then will the United States of America begin to recover some of its moral standing in the world and again be a force for “permanent good”.
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