![\"Map](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/justicewithpeace.org\/files\/u415\/NoUsWarInIraqAndSyria2.jpg?w=635\")
<\/p>\nby Matthew Andrews, Liberty Union’s Candidate for Congress<\/p>\n
As the Liberty Union Party candidate for Congress, I call on the people
\nof Vermont to join us in opposing more bloodshed in Iraq and Syria.
\nVermonters will have an opportunity to vote for peace in the November
\nelections, but the current situation is too urgent to wait. We must
\nflood the streets and apply all reasonable non-violent pressure on our
\nrepresentatives in Washington DC – Bernie Sanders, Patrick Leahy, and
\nPeter Welch – to drop their support for war.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When President Obama took office in 2008, his administration scuttled
\nthe rhetoric of a \u201cWar on Terror\u201d but the substance of US foreign policy
\nhas not changed. On the eve of the 13th anniversary of the attacks on
\n9\/11, Obama announced a new assault on Iraq and Syria, using US air
\nstrikes, arms, money, training, and over 1,500 U.S. ground troops. The
\nfact that Obama must limit the number of ground troops and the role they
\nwill play is a testament to the power of our anti-war movement. To stop
\nthese endless wars however, we must defeat Islamophobia, inspire
\nAmericans to love our brothers and sisters in the Middle East as our
\nown, and replace the war economy with a peace economy.<\/p>\n
As a US Army Intelligence officer reading internal military reports,
\nwhistle-blower Chelsea Manning saw how the US military supported Prime
\nMinister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki by cracking down on dissidents. Critics
\nwho had done nothing more than speak out against corruptions were
\ntreated like terrorists, imprisoned without trial, and in some cases
\ntortured or even killed. <\/p>\n
US intervention in the Middle East has destroyed entire countries,
\nkilling hundreds of thousands, injuring, displacing, and traumatizing
\nmillions, and propping up sectarian regimes. Out of this chaos, brutal
\nforces such as ISIS will continue to thrive.<\/p>\n
The MENA revolutions, which overthrew the US client states of Tunisia
\nand Egypt, show that Arab societies can fight for democracy and human
\nrights themselves, if they are not militarily repressed. It is a slow
\nprocess that can blossom if we stop our government from meddling in the
\naffairs of others.<\/p>\n
ISIS is not a threat to the United States. It does however threaten US
\ninvestments and resource extraction from Iraq. The Obama administration
\nis continuing the same US foreign policy since the Cold War of treating
\nthe rest of the world as a place to be dominated and exploited through
\nbribes when possible and force if necessary. This is why the US and
\nanyone who associates with our government in the Middle East is viewed
\nas illegitimate. Our standing in the world would be vastly better, and
\nour influence correspondingly greater, if the billions we spend on war
\ninstead went to aiding civilians.<\/p>\n
Vermont’s representatives in Washington DC and the Obama Administration
\nneed to recognize that their invasions, drone wars, and air strikes have
\nbeen a total disaster. The first step to ending terrorism will be to
\nstop participating in it. End the air strikes, close the bases, and
\nbring the troops home! The United States should also join the
\nInternational Criminal Court and cooperate with the enforcement of
\ninternational laws. We must negotiate with Russia and other world
\npowers to cease all arms shipments to the region and negotiate a
\nrapprochement between hostile forces to end the bloodshed.<\/p>\n
Our commitment to peace must go beyond a bumper sticker. It must even go
\nbeyond voting for Liberty Union candidates on election day. Vermonters
\nmust build a mass movement with the backing of unions, a political
\nparty, worker co-ops, an independent mass media and other community
\ninstitutions to make our love for peace an irresistible force.<\/p>\n
More information about the Liberty Union Party and its candidates can be
\nfound at www.libertyunionparty.org. Matthew Andrews can be reached at
\n802-858-6466 or peopleunite@verizon.net.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Matthew Andrews, Liberty Union’s Candidate for Congress As the Liberty Union Party candidate for Congress, I call on the people of Vermont to join us in opposing more bloodshed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liberty-union-party-member-opinion","category-matthew-andrews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=410"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":413,"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410\/revisions\/413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}