AFL-CIO Urges Timetable for Troop Withdrawal from Iraq

By Mark Gruenberg, Press Associates, Inc.

Further strengthening its opposition to President George W. Bush’s war in Iraq, the AFL-CIO Executive Council voted March 7 to demand Bush set a timetable for getting our troops out and ending U.S. involvement in Iraq. And if he doesn’t do so, their statement adds, Congress should do it for him.

Blasting Bush’s conduct of the war, the statement declares that “we should not be asking our young men and women who serve this nation in its armed forces to remain in Iraq on extended tours without proper armor and equipment, caught in an endless occupation in the midst of a civil war.”

Many of the troops—and many of the 3,100 U.S. dead—are sons, daughters, sisters, brothers and husbands and wives of workers, the statement adds. “The best way now to recognize and honor their service is to take them out of harm’s way,” it says.

The statement is an outgrowth of the AFL-CIO’s historic decision, at its 2005 convention in Chicago, to break for the first time ever with the government on a war-and-peace issue. Pushed by US Labor Against The War, the federation called then for “rapid” withdrawal of troops from Iraq. This statement was along the same lines.

“It is time to bring our military involvement in Iraq to an end,” the statement declares.

The statement also comes as the Democratic-run 110th Congress, many of whose new members were elected on their opposition to Bush’s war, is struggling to force the Bush regime to change course and start pulling troops out. Bush is sending 21,500 more. That’s the wrong way to go, the federation says.

The Democratic-run House passed a nonbinding resolution demanding Bush change course and disapproving his escalation. But the Senate’s Republicans tied up that chamber in procedural and debating knots, resulting in no action.

Bush’s push to increase the number of troops in Iraq not only increases the danger to them, but comes without support here at home or backing from U.S. military leaders, the federation said. “This blind pursuit of the war now undermines the very war on terror that was its justification,” the statement adds.

Bush used the war on terror as one of his reasons to invade Iraq, falsely claiming then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had links with al-Qaeda, the group that launched the war on terror with its attacks on New York and Washington. Those attacks killed 3,000 people, including 630 unionists. Among them were 343 New York Fire Fighters and their priest.

“The president insists we must succeed militarily” in Iraq “to establish the conditions for a political settlement. In fact the reverse is true: Unless there is the political will (among the Iraqis) to stop the violence, there can be no military solution. The U.S.presence only encourages the factions to continue their warfare and serves as a magnet for foreign interference” in Iraq, the federation says. It does not name the interferers.

The federation endorses last year’s recommendations by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group as a way to get out of Iraq. They said that report gives Bush and Congress a way to both reduce the U.S. presence in Iraq and to “address the wider (Middle East) regional conflict.”

“We therefore call on President Bush to reconsider the recommendations” by the Baker-Hamilton group, it adds. “Specifically, the administration should open up a diplomatic offensive with allies and Iraq’s neighbors. This should include a new initiative to revive a peace process in the Middle East and it should include a timetable for redeploying U.S. troops out of Iraq’s civil strife.

“We also call on Congress to support these actions and insist on a timetable for disengagement. If the president refuses to act, Congress must use its powers under the Constitution and act,” the statement concludes.

(As Labor went to press March 23, the House passed a $124 billion spending bill that sets an Aug. 31, 2008, date for withdrawing all U.S. forces from Iraq.)

Rallies, Civil Disobedience Mark 4th Anniversary of Iraq War

The 4th anniversary of the US-led war on Iraq was commemorated March 16 through March 19 with marches, rallies, and civil disobedience actions throughout the Bay Area. Local vigils took place in Palo Alto, San Jose, Berkeley, Oakland, and Walnut Creek. A march and rally organized by Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) brought out thousands of protestors in San Francisco March 18, including a large labor contingent.

Hundreds of penisula residents and many community groups came out in force and joined in the Anti-War Rally and March March 17 at City Hall Plaza in Palo Alto organized by the Peninsula Peace and Justice Center.

Civil Disobedience Actions On 4th Anniversary of US Invasion of Iraq

Several hundred activists turned out in downtown San Francisco on March 19 to mark the fourth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq. More than 50 protesters were arrested taking part in “die-ins” that blocked Market Street throughout much of the afternoon. The die-ins began at noon at four locations along Market Street, including Civic Center and the corner of Montgomery Street outside the office of Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Eleven military family members and veterans were arrested by federal police at Nancy Pelosi’s office after they met with Pelosi staff to express their opposition to Pelosi’s plan to continue funding the War in Iraq. The group included veterans who had served in Iraq and mothers whose sons are in Iraq now and others whose sons have served multiple deployments.

Also on March 19 a nonviolent direct action took place at Chevron World Headquarters in San Ramon. About 100 people participated, some locking themselves to “oil” barrels to block one entrance to Chevron’s headquarters. Activists from across Europe and the U.S. are campaigning against a new law in Iraq that would turn Iraq’s oil over to U.S. and British oil companies, including Chevron.

Reports and photos of the actions can be seen on the website of the San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center, www.indybay.org.