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Barbara Lee was one of the few Democrats in Congress to vote against the war against
Serbia!
kev hall wrote:
> Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
> ---------------------------------------------
>
> >From: "Andrew Lichterman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >To: "Abolition USA (E-mail)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "ANA Full
> >(E-mail)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Abolition Caucus (E-mail)"
> ><[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >Subject: [abolition-caucus] Dellums backs Lee vote against armed force
> >Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2001 11:59:45 -0700
> >
> > Oakland Tribune Tuesday September 18 2001
> >
> > Dellums backs Lee vote against armed force
> > By Lisa Friedman
> > WASHINGTON BUREAU
> > WASHINGTON -- Former Oakland congressman Ron Dellums was
> >watching
> > television with his wife, witnessing endless footage of the
> >attacks
> > Sept. 11 at the Pentagon and World Trade Center and its
> >aftermath of
> > grief and twisted metal, when he learned Congress would be
> >asked
> >to
> > approve a declaration of war.
> > "How would you vote on that?" Dellums said his wife asked.
> > "I looked at her and I said, 'I would vote no,'" he answered.
> > It was a gut response, born out of a lifetime of conviction
> >that
> >war
> > is a statement of desperation. Yet days later, after long
> >hours
> >of
> > introspection, Dellums said he believes his instinct was
> >right,
> >and
> > that that his faith in nonviolence is as strong now as it ever
> >was.
> > "It's during these moments of fear and anxiety and pain that
> >your
> > belief system is tested to the limit," Dellums said during a
> > 75-minute telephone conversation Sunday. But, he said, "The
> >peace
> > movement is not just something you name yourself. It's a way
> >of
> > thinking.
> > "It is not an accident that the Gandhis and the Kings and the
> > Mandelas of the world are a very small group. It takes courage
> >to
> > find another way to deal with these problems."
> > For many in Oakland and the Bay Area, the name Ron Dellums is
> > synonymous with opposition to war. His election to the U.S.
> >House as
> > an East Bay representative in 1970 came on an anti-Vietnam
> >platform.
> > National news reports screamed, "Afro-topped, bell-bottomed
> >radical
> > black man from Berkeley wins election!"
> > He left office nearly 30 years later, an expert in national
> > security, having earned the respect of his ideological foes,
> >and
> > having voted against every use of military force from Vietnam
> >to
> > Operation Desert Storm.
> > Dellums retired from public life in 1998 and now runs
> >Healthcare
> > International Management Co., a company that provides health
> > services in poor countries. Never one to court media attention
> >even
> > while in office, Dellums is these days more guarded than ever
> >of
> >his
> > privacy. He spoke to The Oakland Tribune this weekend because,
> >he
> > said, "now the drums of war are beating very loudly."
> > Ever since the first hijacked airplane struck the World Trade
> >Center
> > at 12 minutes before 9 a.m. Tuesday, Dellums said he has been
> >trying
> > to sort out his own conflicting feelings.
> > "Here we are as a people having experienced this incredibly
> >awful
> > thing, and we simultaneously feel pain, we feel sorrow, we
> >feel
> > anger ... and, if the truth be told, high anxiety and a great
> >amount
> > of fear," he said.
> > "Suddenly any act of violence is very possible any time and
> > anywhere. In many ways, America has been changed forever."
> > That, Dellums said, is precisely why he believes the president
> >and
> > Congress should not rush to vengeance.
> > "I have to hope, and I've been hoping every day, that what
> >happened
> > on Tuesday has not already set in motion events that will send
> >us
> > down the spiral of darkness.
> > "The American people need to feel, mourn the pain," Dellums
> >said.
> > "This is a very frightening and dangerous moment. This is not
> >the
> > time for us to make a decision about war and vengeance. We
> >live
> >in a
> > society of immediateness and quickness and 'let's block out
> >these
> > feelings.' Rational thought is not the order of the day.
> > "This is not the end. It's frightening to even contemplate
> >where
> > this can go. So, it behooves us to pause. ... I'm not sure if
> >we
> >as
> > a people have grappled with what it means to go to war in the
> >21st
> > Century," he said.
> > He may be right. Yet according to the latest CBS/New York
> >Times
> > poll, 85 percent of Americans are willing to find out.
> > According to the same poll, 68 percent of the country wants to
> >take
> > military action against those responsible for the attacks even
> >if it
> > means innocent people will be killed, and 60 percent said the
> >United
> > States should go to war even if "thousands" of innocent
> >civilians
> > are killed.
> > President Bush has spent the past few days preparing America
> >for
> >war
> > in no uncertain terms, declaring, "My message is for everybody
> >who
> > wears the uniform: Get ready."
> > Dellums said he is still praying that the country can find
> >another
> > way.
> > "War is just a statement that we have lost control. It's a
> >statement
> > of desperation. We've got to reach in and figure out, 'How do
> >we
> > overcome the desperation?'
> > "There has to be a better way than killing and dying and more
> > killing and more dying," he said. "It's not going to bring
> >back
> >this
> > incredible loss of life that we've had."
> > Congress did vote on the war resolution, a bill that
> >authorized
> > President Bush to use whatever military force necessary to
> >respond
> > to Tuesday's terrorist attacks. The House passed the
> >resolution
> >late
> > Friday by a vote of 420-1.
> > The lone dissenting vote belonged to Dellum's successor, Rep.
> > Barbara Lee.
> > Lee, Dellums said, came to her decision by her own path. He
> >said
> >he
> > is troubled by some of the visceral reactions to her decision,
> >the
> > callers to talk shows who call Lee a "national embarrassment,"
> > "un-American" and worse.
> > "What are we defending if we're not defending the principle of
> > honest dissent in the marketplace of ideas?" Dellums asked. "I
> >think
> > people need to applaud courage in a moment when someone is
> >willing
> > to stand up against the tide. We have to care about the fact
> >that
> >
> > few people along the way have a different perspective. ...
> >What
> > could be more American?"
> >
> >1999-2001 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
> >
> >Andrew Lichterman
> >Program Director
> >Western States Legal Foundation
> >1504 Franklin St. Suite 202
> >Oakland, CA 94612
> >USA
> >
> >phone: +1 (510) 839-5877
> >fax: +1 (510) 839-5397
> >web site: www.wslfweb.org
>
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