Dear
CODEPINKer,
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 Kovics.
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 orfind 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 and Rae
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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