"What's Left" on NC State's radio station last Wednesday focused on impeachment and had several local and national speakers. Andy Silver, mainly representing www.impeachbushcheney.net and the orangetoimpeach.blogspot.com, and I were in the studio and spoke for the first quarter of the hour. Next David Swanson, of www.afterdowningstreet.org and well-known to activists for impeachment, came on by phone, probably from Washington. Next Kent Kanoy and then GRIM co-chair John Heuer joined the discussion by phone. I thought an hour would be a long while to talk, but we barely scratched the surface and didn't lay out a lot of details about impeachment and local actions. I didn't have a prepared statement or outline written out, but I think it went well. The hosts expected calls, but maybe we were clear and people agreed with us. It was especially an honor to be on the same program with Swanson, but that segment was mainly with the hosts. I heard that the hosts contacted him on short notice and late at night and got a reply in 5 minutes. Media requests are probably supposed to go through the website rather than by his personal email though (I noticed a reminder about this on After Downing Street around that time).
Lately impeachment discussions often seem to turn to the possibility of an attack on Iran. At the Durham town meeting much of the discussion was about this. Reportedly the US and its allies and proxies are already operating in Iran aggressively. I wouldn't rule out more overt action, and it could be in a way energizing for us, which might be why it is talked about so much (as in, out of the wish that Bush is crazy enough to seriously advocate attacking Iran and thinking that we could stop it this time). On Iraq the antiwar movement is winning politically, but maybe losing energy or public interest in the three years of struggle to get this far. The US has been in Iraq for awhile now, so maybe it is becoming less of a pressing issue to people, the same way US forces in Colombia, Haiti, and supporting rightwing dictators are not high-profile or primary struggles for Americans, judging by the activity level. Stan Goff's argument that the Bush Administration is not insane and has goals that would be hurt by war with Iran makes sense. There could be war with Iran, but it is probably unlikely before or near 2008, but we should stay vigilant and denounce the current aggressive and hypocritical moves by the Bush Administration. After all, the current Iraq War came out of the first war with Iraq about 12 years ago.
We also discussed Kanoy's campaign some. Kanoy got more than 2000 votes I think, more than the Democratic challenger to the right of Price, which represented a few percent of the vote. Lots of people were voting in my southern Durham precinct, so I thought the turnout was unusually high, but host JohnnyK said only a tiny fraction of the electorate turned out this year.
Hopefully this will increase support at NCSU, although the spring semester is ending, and support for the planned Raleigh town meeting. GRIM is hoping to have one of the representatives sponsoring Conyers' H. Res 635 speak at that meeting. On What's Left we also brought up passing impeachment resolutions. Carrboro already passed two resolutions without GRIM's involvement. On the 15th the Chapel Hill Town Council will be asked to pass a similar resolution and on the 18th we might get started in Durham. There is also a GRIM meeting coming up Friday, May 15th at 7:30pm, again in Chapel Hill.
The radio program will be available in mp3 format at WKNC's website soon, if it isn't already.
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1 comment:
Well, it was I who brought up the threat of a major attack on Iran. I don't get the presumption that Bush and Cheney are not crazy. Almost every policy they have is crazy. Their thinking might have its own internal logic, as can paranoid or schizophrenic delusions, but there is a clear dissociation from the facts of history and of the strategic consequences in coming years of their policies. In particular, there is a clear dissociation from any perception of human suffering. They have caused such colossal suffering and destruction already, that I doubt there is any upper threshold above which they would feel any shame or twinge of guilt.
A rationale for the war on Iraq and associated policies was given in the infamous "Project for a New American Century," authored in 1997 by Dick Cheney, Jeb Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and several other neoconservatives. It is a "rationale" in that it is internally consistent. If you accept the premises, and the value judgments, the policies follow. But look at the premises and value judgments: sheer insanity.
I respect Michael's and Stan Goff's opinions. But, in this case, I am convinced of the determination of thugs in power to attack Iran by the two people whose command of the facts and the psychology of this administration I respect the most: Seymour Hersh and Scott Ritter.
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