Today’s the day.  Friday, Nov. 21.  The 15th Iraq Moratorium day.  You know what to do.

But in case you don’t, a suggested to-do list:

— Interrupt your daily routine,  some way, somehow, and do something, by yourself or in a group action, to call for an end to the war and occupation.  You’ll find a list of events and ideas for individual action at IraqMoratorium.com

— Take a digital or video camera along, and get some shots of the action, big or small.

— Send a short report, with photos and video if you can. Use this easy form.  If you do something individually, tell us about that, too.  Your story may inspire others to act next time.

— If you can, pass the hat at your event and ask for contributions to keep the Iraq Moratorium growing,   Send us a check or make an online donation for the amount you collect.  We’ll make every dollar count and use it effectively in the cause of peace.  Here’s the link.

But you don’t need anyone to tell you what to do.  The important thing is that you do something.

It has to stop, and we have to stop it.

Nearly 100,000 hand-fired clay figures, representing lives lost in the Iraq war, will be the backdrop on Friday for an Iraq Moratorium action in the California community of Aptos, near Santa Cruz.

The display is the work of artist Kathleen Crocetti, a high school art teacher, who told the San Jose Mercury News :

“I’m doing this to help people visualize the number of people killed in the Iraq war. We need a physical connection to that number. I thought we went into the war under false pretenses, and I can’t sanction pre-emptive war.

I feel such shame and sadness in my name as an American,” she said. “I feel responsible for the pain and grief because of this war.”

The 4,000-plus small white clay figures, each holding a U.S. flag, represent dead American service members. The 92,000 dark clay figures, behind the Americans like a shadow, represent Iraqis. She uses the number from Iraq Body Count, which includes documented civilian deaths.  It is a very conservative number; others estimate the count could be as high as a million.

On Friday, as individuals and groups across the country interrupt their regular routines to mark the Iraq Moratorium and call for an end to the war and occupation, people in Aptos will peacefully protest the war during rush hour on the sidewalks in front of the Resurrection-Aptos cemetery where the figures are displayed. The evening’s vigil, with music and poetry will be near the memorial in the cemetery.

The action is one of many taking place on Friday, Iraq Moratorium #15. Despite the election, despite a proposed, sketchy new US-Iraq status of forces agreement, the war drags on and on.

The President-elect and the new Congress need to know that we want our troops home — and not in three years.

The Iraq Moratorium website includes a list of actions planned across the country on Friday, and suggestions for individual action.  If you can’t make time to take part on Friday, consider a donation. The killing has to stop, and we have to stop it.

 

Iraq and the United States have signed an agrement requring the US to withdraw its troops by the end of 2011.

So the war and occupation, already more than five and a half years old, could be over in three more years.  How about that?

That actually is progress of sorts. And there are some positive things about the agreement, which still needs to be ratified by Iraq’s Parliament.  (Interestingly, it does not need Congressional approval.)

UPDATE: David Swanson says it is a treaty that does, indeed, require Senate ratification, and that we should insist on it. Link.

But you’ll have to excuse us if we don’t call off Friday’s planned Iraq Moratorium actions across the country. In fact, there are signs of renewed and increased interest in antiwar activity. We definitely need to keep the heat on the new Congress and the Obama administration.

Having again elected a new Congress with a mandate to end the war, activists are determined to hold Congress accountable this time. The Raise Hell for Molly Ivins Campaign is urging contact with members of Congress, in their home offices, on the Third Friday of the month — Iraq Moratorium day — and has produced a video with Vietnam vet Ron Kovic to promote it.  (That’s next Friday, Nov. 21.)

United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) is urging meetings with members of Congress in their home offices between now and Jan. 3, when they are seated. Says UFPJ:

These visits will help communicate our sense of urgency. Our nation is still at war, as well as in the throes of sharp economic decline and a growing global environmental crisis. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are costing us billions of dollars, which are vitally needed here at home, and tens of thousands of deaths on all sides. There is much to be urgent about!

With a new administration and a new Congress coming to power in January, we have an opportunity to advance new priorities and to help restore the proper role of Congress in foreign policy matters. But that means we have to start our work now, we cannot wait for several months…

Issues To Address In Your Meetings With Members Of Congress

At a time of economic crisis, the United States needs a new foreign policy, which emphasizes diplomacy and international cooperation, rather than military power and war. In discussions with members of Congress, it will be helpful to stress that our economy will not recover, and we will not have the resources to create green jobs, health care for all, 21st-century education and rebuild the infrastructure, if the military budget is not reduced. The present level of military spending is outrageous and not sustainable with all the new programs promised during the election campaigns.

Other specifics:

1) On Iraq. Congress should insist on the rapid withdrawal of all U.S. military forces and contractors from Iraq. This withdrawal should be accompanied by a new diplomatic surge to stabilize the country and open the political space for Iraqis to decide their own future. Deployment of the National Guard in wars overseas should cease, returning their focus to domestic security.

2) On Afghanistan. Congress should not permit an expansion of the U.S. war in Afghanistan. It should press for a multilateral regional effort at stabilization along with rapid withdrawal of NATO and U.S. forces.

3) On Iran.  Members of Congress should make clear their opposition to a new war in Iran. They ought to encourage unconditional, high-level talks to reduce tensions and urge Iran to abandon any nuclear weapons program. If the U.S. truly wants to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, it will require us to live up to our commitments under Article 6 of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Why not work on that on Iraq Moratorium day as well?

If there’s no Congressional office where you are, bring cell phones and contact numbers to your Moratorium event and place calls from there.

Do something. Keep the heat on. It’s got to stop, and we are still the ones who have to stop it.  

On Veterans Day, let’s pause to consider the words of Iraq Veterans Against the War, in an open letter to President-Elect Barack Obama:

We appreciate your inspiring words spoken at Grant Park in Chicago on Tuesday night – words which should give all Americans hope for our future. But we also remember the hope your words gave to many Americans in an August 2007 speech – especially those serving in our military:

“Ending this war will be my first priority when I take office. There is no military solution in Iraq. Only Iraq’s leaders can settle the grievances at the heart of Iraq’s civil war.”

Much has changed in our country since that speech, and the prevailing sentiment among Americans is that our faltering economy must now be your first priority. We understand and share their concern, but we believe that our faltering economy cannot be corrected if we continue the costly occupation of Iraq – an immense financial cost which is simply unsustainable. The American people are giving billions of dollars every week to continue an occupation that is draining our wallets, our respect, our security, and the lives of thousands of U.S. and Iraqi men, women, and children.

Glenn Greenwald, writing for  Salon,  calls it “the single worst expression in American politics.”

You may have your own nominees for that distinction, but his is “Commander in Chief,” which is used these days as a substitute for President.

He quotes Joe Biden on the stump:

After next Tuesday, the very critics he has now and the rest of America will be calling him something else – they will be calling him the 44th president of the United States of America, our commander in chief Barack Obama!

Actually, I won’t be calling him that if he wins on Tuesday.  I got my discharge papers in 1970.  I’m not in the military any more.  And neither are most Americans.

Says Greenwald:

This is much more than a semantic irritant.  It’s a perversion of the Constitution, under which American civilians simply do not have a “commander in chief”; only those in the military — when it’s called into service — have one.

The President is Commander in Chief only of active duty military personnel — and only in wartime.  (Some, including George Bush and Dick Cheney, would argue that we are now permanently “at war” on terrorism.)

(Guest post from Jeff Bentoff, Milwaukeean about town, recovered newsman, consultant, flack, sometimes musician, music aficionado and Wilco enthusiast.  For today, we'll just call him Jeff the Blogger.)

Jeff Tweedy, leader of the revered rock band Wilco, and two colleagues from the group, kicked off a vote-early drive Saturday aimed at getting UW-Madison students to the polls before Election Day.

Playing a free, nine-song set at the UW Memorial Union Theater in Madison Saturday afternoon, the mini, mainly acoustic version of Wilco turned in a riveting performance under a large “Obama-Biden” banner, wowing the capacity, mostly student audience of about 1,300.

Following the “Concert for Change,” attendees were planning to march to Madison’s City County Building, to encourage early balloting there. Speaking to the crowd, U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold and U. S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin emphasized the importance of getting out the vote for Barack Obama. They noted that while Democrats John Kerry and Al Gore carried the state in recent presidential elections, they did so by very small percentages.

Thanks to the writing and singing of Tweedy and the equally strong musicianship of his band colleagues, Wilco (Wilco World link) has amassed a loyal, almost cult-like following. (Note: this writer is a member of said alleged cult.) Tweedy, who grew up in southern Illinois and now lives in Chicago, has long been an Obama supporter.

In an amusing interview Thursday on The Colbert Report, Tweedy said he first met Obama in 2005 when the future presidential candidate introduced the band at a Farm Aid concert. Obama has said he’s a fan of the band, telling a crowd at a benefit concert in Chicago this summer, "I love Wilco."

Wilco debuted a new song on the Colbert show whose title, “Wilco The Song,” plays off the nickname of McCain supporter “Joe The Plumber.”

Colbert teased Tweedy for offering a free download of a song online, asking if he’s a socialist. “No, we’re just really, really lousy capitalists,” Tweedy replied.

The free Wilco download is available here to anyone who pledges to vote. The free song, Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released,” features Wilco and indie rock sensation Fleet Foxes.

Saturday’s set featured three of the six band members: Tweedy on acoustic guitar, John Stiratt on electric bass and Pat Sansone on electric keys and acoustic guitar. Their voices blended perfectly during the show, which featured classic Wilco songs. Two of the tunes were based on unpublished Woody Guthrie lyrics that Tweedy has put to music, including the stunning “California Stars.” Introducing another of the Guthrie-Tweedy songs, “Christ for President,” Tweedy said the words were written before “Christian ideals were appropriated by right-wing politics.”

Tweedy said that he tried to pick songs to play Saturday that would fit the themes of the rally but suggested that wasn’t too easy – his songs are beautiful but more a reflection of troubled times than of optimistic ones.

“We don’t have very many songs that are appropriate for hope-filled auditoriums,” Tweedy said. “There’s a hope gap.”

(Setlist below the fold)