There are plenty of Americans against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

In case there are any misconceptions about the "American people", mostly as a result of mass media portrayals of Americans as predominantly gun-toting, aggressive and pro-war, please see below for evidence of growing popular opposition as the war in Afghanistan nears the end of its seventh year.

There is in the message below, however, a vain hope: that, should US forces withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan, the "savings" will go on domestic social programmes to help the unemployed, poor and those without health insurance. The same argument was made during the Vietnam War. But, in my view, that is not how it works: the US foreign policy establishment withdrew from Vietnam but did not pump billions into social programmes: in the medium to long-term, Americans saw the return of a "resurgent America" under Ronald Reagan, and the beginning of the second cold war, justified by growing global threats to "freedom", i.e., US power. That is the character of the American hegemon, the globe's policeman. Nevertheless, mass protest against war, allied with splits within the American political elite, may slow the war programme by bringing home to all the nature of the bloody wars being waged in which untold numbers of Iraqis and Afghans have been killed, and in which growing numbers of young Americans are falling victim.

BRING ALL THE TROOPS

AND DOLLARS HOME

March 20 marks the start of the 8th year since the invasion of Iraq and well into the 9th year of the occupation of Afghanistan.

JOIN WITH OTHER PEOPLE OF CONSCIENCE ACROSS THE COUNTRY TO TELL THE POLITICIANS TO

• BRING OUR TROOPS AND DOLLARS HOME
• INVEST IN HEALTHCARE NOT WARFARE
• BUILD SCHOOLS NOT BOMBS, AND
• CREATE JOBS AT LIVING WAGES FOR EVERYONE WHO NEEDS ONE

People from all over the country are organizing to converge on Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Los Angeles for marches and rallies. Local actions may also take place in other cities. USLAW has endorsed these demonstrations and urges unions and their members to participate.

Get more information about the DC demonstration HERE. There will be coinciding mass marches on March 20 in San Francisco and Los Angeles. In San Francisco, several labor councils and unions will cosponsor a forum/speakout prior to the main demonstration. Click HERE for more information.

We will march together to call for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan, no war against Iran, and to call for the billions of dollars now squandered on war to be used to restore vital social services, create jobs at living wages, get the economy back on track and protect our environment for future generations.

Not only are these wars wrong, they are bad for U.S. national security, undermine the economy, and weaken the rule of law and democracy. The United States cannot afford to borrow money to fund these wars. We cannot afford $1 million per year for each troop to be in Afghanistan when 19% of Americans are unemployed or underemployed, 45,000 die in the U.S. due to lack of health care, teachers and other public employees are being laid off, our states and cities are in a fiscal crisis, and we are seeing record bankruptcies and foreclosures as well as record personal and government debt.

Seven years after the U.S. illegally invaded Iraq, one million or more Iraqis have died. Tens of thousands of U.S. troops have lost their lives or been maimed, and continue to suffer a whole host of enduring problems from these terrible wars. Just last week the U.S. suffered its 1,000th death of a soldier in Afghanistan and other war theaters of "Operation Enduring Freedom" - just a few days after three busses of civilians were killed in an air strike ordered by the U.S. military.

It's time to put a halt to the slaughter, to the waste of resources, to support for a corrupt regime of warlords and drug lords. It's time for the people to assert our will. It's up to us to lead and for the politicians to follow (or get out of the way).

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