Re: What other (not left wing) groups are against the War?

[Warren Gammel]

William writes:  "Today on my local talk show, the host listed all the left wing groups that are against the war in Iraq and said consider the source. I have a question for the Power Hour friends, besides the Gulf War Veterans Association, what other (not left wing) groups are against the War? What about ex-military, who has come out against the war. Any help?"   Leftwing-rightwing-liberal-conservative, these terms are all gross oversimplifications designed to kill meaningful discussion.    I hate to put labels on myself (they're too self limiting and I'm a very complex and diverse individual) but for the sake of discussion I'll call myself an independent liberal who strongly identifies with Joyce and Dave in supporting and defending all of our veterans, regardless of where or when they served in the military. For the record, I'm a disabled Vietnam era veteran and a member of Veterans For Peace.   Be that as it may, all this leftwing - rightwing rhetoric being spouted by the media about who we are is so much meaningless garbage.   What we need to focus on is what's right and what's wrong.    We cannot not let our distractors in the media try to divide us.   Let's call this for what it is -the media is baiting us against one another.    We're all individuals united with one common purpose - to stop the war - and that is drawing Americans together from all political ideologies, religions, cultures and backgrounds.  And they want to call us all hippies, leftists, radicals, extremists, socialists, communists, unpatriotic, un-Americas or whatever?!?!?    I think not.    Despite what many in the media are saying - the reality is that there are many folks who call themselves conservatives, rightwingers, etc, and many who voted for George Bush who are also strongly opposed to the Iraq war.    Folks,  we've all got a good thing going here. It's called solidarity and unity. We've got a coalition of diverse groups joining together for one common purpose and cause.  The powers that be - who want this war - become frightened when they cannot control their opposition using their usual tactics of pitting one group against another.   Let's reject our distractors in the media, and savor our unity for a change. This type of broad spectrum solidarity does not happen very often.  We all know what's right and we all know what's wrong.  We don't need the media bozos with their disruptive divide-and-conquer agendas defining who we are or what we are.   They can spin our numbers, they can call us names, they can carpet bomb us with all the disinformation they want to, but it still won't change our convictions against starting unprovoked wars.   We're Americans, we may fight wars, but we don't start them!   Warren