Brief recap of Veterans For Peace Chapter #161 activities

 
Welcome to Veterans For Peace

Veterans For Peace is a global organization of Military Veterans and allies whose collective efforts are to build a culture of peace by using our experiences and lifting our voices. We inform the public of the true causes of war and the enormous costs of wars, with an obligation to heal the wounds of wars. Our network is comprised of over 140 chapters worldwide whose work includes: educating the public, advocating for a dismantling of the war economy, providing services that assist veterans and victims of war, and most significantly, working to end all wars.

Statement of Purpose

We, having dutifully served our nation, do hereby affirm our greater responsibility to serve the cause of world peace. To this end we will work, with others

• To increase public awareness of the costs of war
  
  
• To restrain our government from intervening, overtly and covertly, in the internal affairs of other nations
  
  
• To end the arms race and to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons
  
  
• To seek justice for veterans and victims of war
  
  
• To abolish war as an instrument of national policy.
  

To achieve these goals, members of Veterans For Peace pledge to use non-violent means and to maintain an organization that is both democratic and open with the understanding that all members are trusted to act in the best interests of the group for the larger purpose of world peace.
 

Rendered for inclusion on website

On September 14, 2001, the US Congress passed, with only one dissenting vote, the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) which has served for the last 17 years as a legal veneer for our military misadventures around the world. Count the countries where our military has killed people who are not at war with us —at least nine (Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Niger, Algeria). Count the dollars spent on just our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — at least Four Trillion Dollars. Count the number of countries where we have deployed US Special Forces — 149 in 2017. Count the number of military veteran suicides daily — at least 22.

Add to these figures the tragic irony that recent news is filled with reports of the US being allied with Al Qaeda forces in Yemen and Syria. Al Qaeda, the enemy that was the focus of the 2001 AUMF. An additional irony is that there are efforts underway to pass a new AUMF in Congress, which would call for even less Congressional oversight than the 2001 AUMF.

It is time to start paving the path to the peace we claim to love. A good first step is to rescind the 2001 AUMF and get the US military out of the bullying business. Tell Senator Ernst and Senator Grassley and Representative Loebsack or whoever represents you in Washington that they need to get on board the peace train and enable war no more. And spend 15 minutes at the weekly peace rally at the east side of the Pentacrest, this and any Friday, 4PM-5:30 PM.
 

Feckless US policy on Yemen means "oversight" has become "overlooking"

Despite Senators Grassley's and Ernst's claims to be diligent at oversight, what we've seen instead is overlooking of US military operations in Yemen. This overlooking does not represent my interests and concerns as a USAF veteran, a member of Veterans for Peace, and as a constituent living in Iowa. In view of the recent bombing of a school bus full of children in Yemen and other atrocities committed by Saudi and SAE airstrikes supported by US air refueling, reconnaissance, and special forces, I urge Senators Grassley and Ernst to immediately reconsider their positions and vote to support pending legislation on the Senate floor to curtail US military involvement in Yemen. These bombings of civilians have been going on for three years with only feckless oversight from Congress. Children in school buses, patients in hospitals, and guests at weddings represent no threat whatsoever to our security as Americans living in Iowa. What these atrocities do represent is our Iowa Senators' dereliction of duty with oversight responsibilities of US foreign military involvement. The overlooking of these atrocities represent a lack of critical thinking and due diligence that we desperately need from Congress if our nation is ever to regain a position of righteousness in global affairs. If Senator Grassley is unable to fulfill these oversight responsibilities, then I urge him to retire. Advanced age is no excuse for complicity in war crimes. If Senator Ernst is unwilling to stand up to campaign financeers who profit from war, then cowardice is no excuse for complicity in war crimes.

John Ivens

DeWitt, IA

Dealing with a Dichotomy of Viewpoint over Israel/Palestine

[The Gazette on May 21, 2018] featured a syndicated column by David Harsanyi which dominated the Insight page. The topic was Gaza, and his main theme was that the killing of over 100 Gazans was their own fault. It is interesting reading, as a piece of propaganda or fiction. It lacks credibility for several reasons, with two being the most important.

His statement on the Nakba stands out. "Their far-flung fantasies regarding the right to return (hitched to the historical myth of Nakba) consume them." The Nakba, Arabic for catastrophe, refers to the expulsion in 1948 of over 700,000 Palestinians, accompanied by the destruction of hundreds of Palestinian villages. For Harsanyi to be a "Nakba Denier" is tragically ironic, as he would rightfully decry anyone who is a "Holocaust Denier".

He also makes the bold, bald statement that "Israel repeatedly has shown a willingness to make peace with anyone who desires it." Any familiarity with living conditions in Gaza or most of the West Bank would make one wonder about that statement. Any count of illegal settlements in the West Bank would make one wonder. Any count of the tens of thousands of Palestinian olive and fig trees destroyed by Israeli settlers would make one wonder.

Opposition to policies of the state of Israel must not be equated to anti-semitism. Anti-semitism is real, is vile, and must be opposed. However, the Israeli state's actions have violated many of the values and traditions of Judaism. —Ed Flaherty, May 23, 2018