Article: Greens to Democrats: Bring our troops home NOW!

A bullet tears through a soldier's flesh. Searing heat and pain beyond description overcomes her and she falls to the ground, unable to move. Slipping into and out of awareness, she slurs her words as she prays for survival.

She is carried by her fellow soldiers to a safer location and bandaged as quickly as possible. An ambulance carries her through the dusty streets of any Iraqi city while medics try to make those prayers come true. In another war, in another time, she would have died.

The ambulance makes it to the field hospital while she is still breathing. The professional staff, well trained and equipped, gets to work to save both her life and limbs. Once stabilized, she is placed on an aircraft headed towards more advanced hospital in Germany. Suddenly she takes a turn for the worse. Her breathing gets shallower and her blood pressure drops. Internal bleeding. She grows colder and less responsive. The medical staff works feverishly to save her, but unable to work fast enough, the young brave soldier dies.

Is she a victim of the war in Iraq? Not according to official government policy. Her death, since it did not happen in Iraq, but on a plane as she is being evacuated, doesn't count.

Add to this the soldiers who commit suicide after they get state side, the soldiers who overdose on their drug of choice, private security who die for Haliburton and other corporations, and other indirect victims of the war, and the number of Americans killed by Bush's war was past three thousand some time ago. Only recently was the official death toll said to have reached that horrible figure, but in fact, the US has given that many lives to this misadventure months ago.

Now the President proposes a surge of troops into Baghdad. He will apparently claim that the goal of stabilizing Iraq depends on more American's lives and deaths. This is madness. Throwing gasoline on a fire will not put it out, and Bush's surge will only guarantee deeper failure.

So, as Bush and Company push us deeper into the hell we know as Iraq, what will the Democrats, newly empowered in Congress, do about it? They will salute, vote for death, and send more of your neighbor's children off to die for a failed policy

Why? To win political points and to create a hoped for legacy of greatness. Bush hopes to go down in history as a Truman clone, and the Democrats are too frightened of being soft on terror to do anything about it. Of course, the millions of dollars in campaign contributions from the military-industrial complex helps keep anyone disinclined to vote for more death in their proper place.

So, what can the average voter do about this situation?

The Green Party of the United States is a member group of United for Peace and Justice, the largest peace coalition in America. On January 27th, tens of thousands of Americans will walk the frigid streets of Washington DC, raising their voices for non-violence and an end to this insane death march. On the 29th, thousands will call on Congress to demand that they take action to end the bloodshed. These efforts will be supplemented by hundreds of smaller demonstrations across the nation, and thousands of voters will call on their representatives right at home, in their district offices.

Here in York County, South Carolina, we will have the same opportunity to tell our representatives that the time to end the war is upon us. Whether traveling to Washington, visiting a Senator or Representative's local office, or attending a local demonstration, the folks who join we York County Greens will be able to say with one voice, Enough Basta Stop this war End the bloodshed Bring our troops home NOW!

In Rock Hill, SC we will meet at the corner of Eden Terrace and Oakland Avenue, just across from the entrance to Winthrop University. From noon to 1 PM this Saturday, local citizens will stand vigil.

Won't you join us? One need not belong to the Green Party to desire peace. All are welcome to visit the local website and sign up to participate in the local lobbying at Congressman Spratt's office. The only requirement to participate is a desire to see this war come to an end.