Sunday, January 25, 2015

Editorial: We speak out when?

We're confused.

While some supposedly against the Iraq War wasted all that time trashing a film, they failed to get the word out on the White House's efforts to get US troops on the ground in Iraq in combat.

The White House sent US Secretary of State John Kerry to argue, December 9th, to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Congress must pass an authorization for US President Barack Obama's actions in Iraq and Syria and that this legislation must include that Barack can send US combat troops into Iraq.


When do we plan to address that?


The peace movement -- or what now passes for it -- keeps ignoring it.

They have time to trash a film and trash a dead man.

Because they 'care,' you understand.


They just don't want to work to stop Congress from okaying ground troops for combat in Iraq.


A number of groups are planning a protest in DC . . . for mid-March.

Do you really think Congress won't have passed an authorization by then?


And are you unable to plan a protest and to call for people to demand their representatives in Congress refuse to give Barack authority to put US troops into combat?




Just US troops being in Iraq means they may get into combat.


That's what happened to Canadian forces.


Last week,  the Canadian government acknowledged that  combat took place for Canada and the Islamic State.  Al Jazeera reports:


Canadian special forces have clashed with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group by exchanging gunfire in Iraq in recent days, in the first confirmed ground battle between Western troops and ISIL, a senior officer has said.
The Canadians came under mortar and machine gun fire while training Iraqi troops near front lines and shot back in what Canadian special forces commander Brigadier General Michael Rouleau described as self-defence, killing the ISIL fighters. 
Rouleau said the melee had taken place in the previous seven days and was "the first time we've taken fire and returned fire" in Iraq, where the armed group has overrun large areas.



And instead of dealing with reality, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper distorted reality to put those objecting to war on the defensive (see The Common Ills' "Harper hits (and gropes?) below the belt").


If you don't know which side the White House is on, you missed the State Department's Brett McGurk's Tweet:




PM Stephen Harper on 's SOF in : "If those guys [from ] fire at us, we're going to fire back and we're going to kill them."
19 retweets 16 favorites




The peace movement needs to be calling out what Barack's doing in Iraq right now -- not in mid-March.