How D.C. residents feel about the $87 billion
By Pam Parker
Washington, D.C.
Last month the Bush administration asked for
an additional $87 billion to fund the occupation of Iraq. Soon
afterwards, the president admitted that this requested amount
may be just the beginning.
If workers are hoping that Congress or any of the "front
runners" participating in the Democratic Party presidential
primaries will do the right thing and turn him down, they are
in for a disappointment. Not one of the leaders on the Hill or
any of the leading candidates for the Demo cratic nomination
has demanded that the U.S. end the occupation of Iraq and bring
the troops home now.
In addition, the Senate Appropriations Committee has already
unanimously approved the $87 billion.
Also, if there is any doubt that the U.S. government has
long-term plans to occupy Iraq, one need only look at the fact
that $2.2 billion of the budget is earmarked to finance
military Reserve and National Guard unit deployments to
supplement the already 200,000 troops in Iraq and Kuwait.
But support for this administration is plummeting as people
start asking questions about the war and this government's
policy of "pre-emption." Questions like: Why does the U.S.
government need to import $900 million worth of fuel into Iraq,
a country that possesses the world's second-largest oil
reserves?
Why would this government appear to be offering full health
coverage, education and modernization of the infrastructure in
Iraq while at the same time showing callous disregard to those
same concerns from people in this country? Many in Congress
suggest the remedy is that the people of Iraq pay the U.S. back
for the destruction and pillaging of their resources.
How can the government ask for $87 billion when there is
already a projected $535 billion deficit? Why must working
people in this country bear the financial burden for a war that
they did not ask for and do not support?
How can this administration claim that the war was in our
national interest when everyone acknowledges that Iraq posed no
threat to the U.S.? How could President George W. Bush have
implied for two years that Iraq was involved with the Sept. 11
attacks and use it as justification for going to war against
that nation, when he knew that they were not involved?
Many elders in the peace and justice movement have stated
that the Bush administration's posturing and rhetoric is eerily
reminiscent of the Nixon and Johnson administrations during the
Vietnam War.
The truth--one that more and more of us have come to
realize--is that this administration doesn't care any more
about the people of Iraq or Afghanistan than it does about poor
and working people in this country. This war is not for our
protection and is certainly not for Iraq's freedom. The real
goal of the policy of pre-emptive war is to grab power and
wealth on the backs, and with the blood, of whoever is in the
way. With regard to Iraq, they plan to privatize and sell off
its vast resources to wealthy foreign interests.
The ruling class is finding it harder to hide its true
intent as the world gets more technologically advanced--and so
much better connected. At the same time capitalism is losing
its ability to prop up a middle class to buffer it from the
very poor.
Here in D.C.--a predominantly African American and Latino
city that's larger in population than the state of
Wyoming--residents have no voting representative in Congress.
The chasm between the very wealthy and the very poor grows
wider each day. Cutbacks in jobs and services are made
routinely, without the slightest bit of influence or
consultation from D.C. residents.
Of course, the exception is the D.C. progressive community,
which has fought long and hard for progressive causes, be they
local, national and international. We make our demands known in
the only way that progressive people have ever been successful
and that's by taking it to the streets.
While residents of the District of Columbia don't have
voting rights--our license plates say "Taxation Without
Representation"--we do have our feet and our loud voices. We
plan to join others from around the country at the big
demonstration here on Oct. 25 to demand an end to the
occupation of Iraq. We want the vast wealth and resources of
the world to be used to fund human needs such as jobs,
education, housing and healthcare for all the people.
Reprinted from the Oct. 23, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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