Antiwar activists are planning a warm welcome for John “100-Year-War” McCain when he brings his campaign to Wisconsin on Iraq Moratorium day Friday.

McCain, fresh from a complete flip-flop on torture, comes to the Mississippi River city of LaCrosse for a town hall meeting at the Radisson Hotel.  McCain voted Wednesday against a ban on waterboarding,which passed the Senate 51-45.

Wisconsin’s primary is next Tuesday.

Coulee Progressives are organizing the “welcome” in LaCrosse:

Get Your Protest Shoes On!!

This is Peace Country, where the City of La Crosse along with 32 other cities in WI voted in 2005/06 to bring the troops home back. It’s time we tell those who would bring us deeper into war, that violence is not the answer.

Please come to express your voice for peace this FRIDAY from 3-4 outside the La Crosse Radisson Ballroom. Let’s tell John McCain that war is not the answer.

It’s time to speak out for the unemployed, the underemployed, the sick, those w/o health insurance. It’s time to end the deaths of children and families in Iraq, It’s time to speak for solutions that leave nations better off economically and with healthcare. It’s time to say more than, “NO TO WAR”.

IT’S TIME TO SAY YES TO PEACE!

SAY YES TO THOSE WHO WANT PEACE IN IRAQ,

YES TO THE CHILDREN AND PARENTS OF THE MIDDLE EAST!

YES TO A FUTURE W/O PERMANENT US TROOPS IN ANOTHER COUNTRY OF THE WORLD!

LET’S SEND PEACEMAKERS…NOT WEAPONS OF WAR!

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Progressives announced they plan their own peace protest becasue of McCain’s support for the war in Iraq. Members will meet on campus at 2 p.m. and march to the Radisson Center.

Later in the day, LaCrosse will become the latest Wisconsin community to hold an Iraq Moratorium event, joining 13 others across the state who have planned actions on Friday, Iraq Moratorium #6.  Wisconsin has been a hotbed of Moratorium activity, with 14 events planned on Friday — more than any other state except California, with six times the population.

Nearly 100 events are listed on the Iraq Moratorium website .  The Moratorium asks people to take some action — individually or collectively — on the Third Friday of every month to show their opposition to the war and occupation of Iraq.

Friday is Iraq Moratorium #6, a loosely-knit national grassroots effort to end the war and occupation of Iraq.

Nearly 90 events already are listed on the national website, from sea to shining sea.  They range from street corner vigils to die-ins, with a dash of street theater thrown in. There have been 600-plus events since the Moratorium began in September.

California remains the epicenter of Iraq Moratorium activity, with at least 25 events listed on the site.  (There are many more events that take place across the nation every Moratorium day, but no way to quantify them unless the organizers voluntarily list them on the website.)

If California is the hotbed, Wisconsin is the coldbed of activity, with 13 events listed and at least a few more planned.  Twenty-five states have events on the list. You can easily check at IraqMoratorium.org for one near you.

Lest we think that the Iraqization of the war is underway and that US trops will be coming home, this blunt reminder. AP reports:

FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON, Iraq – In a clear sign the drawdown of U.S. forces from Iraq will be suspended, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday he favors taking time this summer to assess security gains before more troops leave the country, an idea President Bush is expected to support.

It was Gates’ first public endorsement of a possible suspension, and it would seem to mark an end to the Pentagon chief’s previously stated hope that conditions in Iraq would permit American troops to withdraw in the second half of this year as rapidly as they are leaving now.

“A brief period of consolidation and evaluation probably does make sense,” Gates told reporters during a short stop at this U.S. base in southern Baghdad. He had just finished private meetings with Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and the No. 2 commander, Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno.

Gates did not say how long the pause might last, noting that it ultimately would be a decision for the president.

Friday is Iraq Moratorium #6, a loosely-knit nationwide effort that asks people to take some action, individually or in a group, on the third Friday of every month to call for an end to the war.  Those actions range from simple gestures like wearing a black armband or button to participating in a large-scale protest.

Since the Moratorium began in September, more than 600 events have been listed with the group’s website, IraqMoratorium.org, which has a list of upcoming actions, and reports, photos and videos from previous month’s events.  You’ll also find suggestions on things you can do by yourself.

What are you going to do?  

Opponents of the Iraq war will ring church bells in Massachusetts, bring out their dogs in Texas, do “peace walking” in a Wisconsin shopping mall, challenge military recruiters in California, hold a peace concert in Connecticut, and take part in scores of vigils and other actions across the country on Friday, Feb. 15,  Iraq Moratorium #6.

The Iraq Moratorium is a loosely-knit nationwide grassroots movement that asks people to take some action, individually or in a group, on the third Friday of every month to call for an end to the war.  Those actions range from simple gestures like wearing a black armband or button to participating in a large-scale protest.

Since the Moratorium began in September, more than 600 events have been listed with the group’s website, IraqMoratorium.org, which highlights upcoming actions as well as reports, photos and videos from previous month’s events.  A full list of February 15 events, and ideas for individual actions, is available there.

Friday’s Austin, TX canine event is aimed at Sen. John Cornyn for “his tail-wagging support for the Bush administration’s policies on the war, torture, and civil liberties,” one of the sponsors, Movement for a Democratic Society, says.  “His dogged defense of President Bush’s veto of affordable health care to millions of needy children has helped to propel him to an approval rating lower than a weenie dog. “Corn Dog” – Bush’s own nickname for Texas’ junior senator! – is the president’s ever-obedient lap dog.”

“We are inviting progressive groups to develop – through canine-related costume, music, and street theater – their own distinctive messages about Cornyn’s flea-bitten record. We are asking people to bring their dogs and/or to come costumed as dogs. It will be lively and colorful, but the message will be as serious as a riled-up pit bull.”  The event will be outside Cornyn’s Senate office in Austin.

“The fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq is a month away, and the death toll of American service members is nearing 4,000.  Two-thirds of the American people want this war to end, but there’s little or no movement from President Bush and not much more from Congress,” said Moratorium organizer Eric See.   “We must turn up the heat, and more people every month see the growing Iraq Moratorium movement as a way to do that.  This war’s got to stop, and we’ve got to stop it.”

From our friends at the Iraq Moratorium:

It’s a week until this month’s Iraq Moratorium on Friday, February 15.

Tuesday was what they called Super-Duper Tuesday, with presidential primaries and caucuses in two dozen states. The media covered it like a cross between the Super Bowl and some half-scripted “reality show.” But no matter how the talking heads and the candidates’ staffs try to spin things in some other direction, the fact remains that for us and for tens of millions of our fellow everyday Americans, the real issue is ending the war in Iraq.

An article in the San Jose Mercury News tells the story:

WASHINGTON – The Iraq war, conventional wisdom goes, has been eclipsed as the No. 1 issue of the presidential campaign. The housing crisis, credit crunch and overall economic woes top the list of voters’ concerns, recent polls show.

“But as the war nears two grim milestones – five years since the invasion and nearly 4,000 Americans killed – the question of what to do in Iraq is never far below the surface. In California, where polls show 42 percent of Republicans and 91 percent of Democrats oppose U.S. policy in Iraq, strong anti-war sentiment gives the issue staying

power…

The candidates sometimes avoid difficult questions about Iraq. The Democrats concede the surge improved security and don’t talk much about what they would do if violence increased during a withdrawal. Republicans talk often about “victory” over terrorists, but not about whether U.S. troops should try to suppress a messy civil war.

The war will be a major issue with distinct risks for both parties, predicted Jon Cohen, the director of the Washington Post’s polling. While a majority of Americans believe the war was a mistake, “there is much less settled opinion on how to go forward, so it’s a trickier issue for both sides,” he said.

There, in a nutshell, is why the Iraq Moratorium is so important. The people of this country want this war over with and we want it over with pronto. But 15 months after we voted in a new Congress to do the job, nothing has changed! It is crystal clear that nothing is going to change, unless and until we, the people, make sure it does.

February 15 is Moratorium Day #6. On the Iraq Moratorium website , you can check out what happened in January and look up events planned for this month in your area (and list new ones if an event you know about hasn’t been posted there yet.) You can also check out our growing list of individual actions you can take up in observation of the Moratorium.

For instance, a handful of churches in New England started ringing their bells at noon on the Third Friday of January. This month a bunch more are planning to do so. In October, veterans and others in Hobart, IN pioneered Mall Walks, wearing t-shirts protesting the war. By last month a half a dozen groups around the country took similar strolls through their local malls.

So consider this a little reminder:

Make your plans, now, to break your daily routine and take some action to end the war on the 15th.

Spread the word to friends, family and co-workers.

Post a short report on what you did, during the days after the Moratorium.

Give a buck (or more) to keep this project growing. If everyone who takes part in a Moratorium action every month gave one dollar, it would be enough to sustain the effort and build on our success, which includes more than 600 events since September.

What are you doing on February 15?

John McCain saw his shadow this morning, and you know what that means.

100 more years of war in Iraq.

Or maybe 10,000 years.*

Who cares who won the Democratic beauty contest in Florida?  Well, Clinton supporters, of course. What the returns indicate is that if there had been no campaign anywhere in the country, Hillary Clinton would have won easily.  But we knew that. (That’s why we have campaigns, and not just polls.)

Here’s the worst news:

From the WashPost blog, The Trail:

Early network exit polls out of Florida show the economy is the breakaway issue, with nearly half of GOP voters and more than half of Democrats calling it the nation’s top concern…  

Among Republicans:

Top issue: economy 47%, terrorism 19%, immigration 17%, Iraq 13%

Among Democrats:

Top issue: economy 55%, Iraq 25%, health care 17%

Why would that be?

Joe Johns of CNN asked Hillary Clinton:

Last week, you said the next president will, quote, “have a war to end in Iraq.” In light of the new military and political progress on the ground there in Iraq, are you looking to end this war or win it?

To her credit, Clinton didn’t take the bait, responding well to that inane question:

I’m looking to bring our troops home, starting within 60 days of my becoming president, and here’s why, Joe. I have the greatest admiration for the American military. I serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee. I’ve been to Iraq three times. I’ve met with the leaders of the various factions. But there is no military solution, and our young men and women should not remain as the referees of their conflict.

Barack Obama and John Edwards also said they want to extract US troops and disengage, to a large degree, from Iraq.  There are nuances, different language, different timelines, but none of the Democrats’ Big Three is espousing “winning” in Iraq. Transcript.

It makes you wonder just what might constitute “victory.”  Someone should have asked Joe Johns.  Or maybe John “100-Years-War” McCain or one of the other rabid Republicans would like to take a crack at it.

If victory means getting out alive, it’s too late for nearly 4,000 US troops, and more than a million Iraqis.

Was regime change the goal?  Would that constitute victory?

If so, US troops should have come home after George Bush’s famous “Mission Accomplished” stunt.  Saddam has not only been deposed, but captured and brutally executed.  That shouls make us all feel better, even if it turns our that Bin Laden guy was in another country and is still at large, and that Saddam really wasn’t intent on blowing up the world, or at least didn’t have the capability even if he would have liked to.

A stable and successful Iraq will directly improve the national security of our own country,” said Congressman Joe Wilson (SC-02), Co-Chair of the Victory in Iraq Caucus. “Today, we were grateful to be joined by (USAID) Director (Dawn) Liberi and General (John) Kelly, two officials who recognize the tremendous importance of building a civil society in Iraq and are dedicated to successfully completing this mission. Under their leadership, thousands of brave American men and women are working tirelessly to help ensure Iraqis live in a stable, democratic, and prosperous state.” — Link.

“Stable, democratic and prosperous.”  Waiting for that to come true really could mean a Hundred Years War.  Political progress has been and will remain elusive.

Was access to oil our goal, as some critics claim?  We seem to be able to buy all we want, as long as we’re willing to pay in the neighborhood of twice what it cost a year ago. That hardly seems like victory.

Making money for Halliburton and KBR?  Only the most cynical would suggest that Bush and Cheney started a war to help their old friends and political cronies.  More likely that was just one of the positive side effects, from the Bush-Cheney point of view.  Sort of like collateral damage to the US taxpayers and economy.

But let’s say, for the sake of argument, that funneling tons of money to Halliburton was the goal. Then this administration really has accomplished its mission, and it’s time to declare victory and bring the troops home.

There are no photos of this week’s Iraq Moratorium vigil in downtown Milwaukee.  The battery in the digital camera froze.

About 40 people turned out in the bitter cold, and marched with flags, banners, signs and drums past City Hall, then gathered on four corners of the main downtown intersection.

“I was feeling a little wimpy, like maybe it was too cold to come, but I decided that if 70,000 people could go to the Packers game Sunday, when it will be colder than this, I could come out here for an hour to try to stop the war,” one vigiler said.

The tundra was frozen in Hayward, a city of 2,200 in northwestern Wisconsin which has led the nation in percentage of the population turning out for Iraq Moratorium vigils.  Attendance was down from the high of 83 in December, but, as one of the organizers reports on the scene below:

 

24 determined, (and half crazy!) peace supporters braved 20 below zero windchills to stand for an hour in observance of Iraq Moratorium Day #5. We had mostly encouraging responses from motorists who seemed both delighted, and incredulous, at our presence on the street corner.

At 4:45 p.m. some folks suggested that we knock off early due to the bitterly cold winds, but a couple of hardcore skier/peace types shouted, “No! We came to stand for an hour, and for an hour we’ll stand!” We hunkered down, and at 5 p.m. sharp a great cheer went up as we headed for the warmth of vehicles that had been idling for half an hour in the parking lot. See you in February!!

That’s hard core.

Those are among the reports beginning to trickle in to the Iraq Moratorium website in the wake of Friday’s actions, numbering about 90 across the country.  Typically, many more will be posted during the coming week, many with photos and videos.

In Mountain View, California, where the weather was a bit warmer, the Raging Grannies Action League “welcomed” a new armed forces recruiting station to the neighborhood — and let the recruiters know they were invading the Grannies’ turf.  “Killing and Dying is not a career,” the Grannies said.

Iraq Moratorium #6 falls on February 15, the Third Friday of the month.  Now’s the time to start planning, and share your plans and ideas with others at IraqMoratorium.org

P.S. — Go Pack!

Families gathered at the 5th Marine Regiment Memorial Park at Camp Pendleton, Calif.,(right) to spend their last few moments with loved ones before they left for Iraq. Regimental Combat Team 5 left Camp Pendleton on January 3 for their one year deployment to the Al Anbar province of Iraq.– USMC Photo.

While my old regiment ships out again,I have to ask:

Are we headed, as many in the antiwar movement have feared, into an Iraq-free zone during this election season?  Have the Dems decided to wait until next year to try to do anything?

Noah Feldman, in last Sunday’s NY Times magazine:  

What if the United States were at war during a presidential election – and none of the candidates wanted to talk about it? Iraq has become the great disappearing issue of the early primary season, and if nothing fundamental changes on the ground there – a probable result of current policy – the war may disappear even more completely in the new year…

… elections demand that candidates differentiate themselves, yet various plausible front-runners’ positions on Iraq are not all that far apart. There are subtle differences regarding the completeness and timing of withdrawal: John Edwards, for instance, says he would remove even the troops who are training the Iraqi Army and police. But basically, the leading doves say they want to leave, but not too fast; while the hawks claim they want to stay, but not too long.

This week’s Democratic debate in Las Vegas highlighted what Feldman said.  Clinton, Obama and Edwards all offered their nuanced positions, including this clarification of an old question about whether they would have all US troops out by 2013:

(Follow below the fold- ek hornbeck)

^{(Iraq Moratorium)}

This morning’s NY Times brought this news:

The Iraqi defense minister said Monday that his nation would not be able to take full responsibility for its internal security until 2012, nor be able on its own to defend Iraq’s borders from external threat until at least 2018.

If you were a Democrat running for president to end the war in Iraq, you’d be reacting quickly to that sort of news.

But if there is any sort of blowback — or even concern expressed — by the Democratic candidates, I’ve missed it.