Visiting the missing Senator from Oregon, Gordon Smith:

Troy and I arrived about 1300, (1 PM) and met with a staff member who listened to us and accepted our letter.

Defund the War Campaign



Dear Senator Smith, January 25, 2007

We have taken the time to come to your office to request you follow up on your words, which you delivered on the Senate Floor with great passion and nobility.

“I, for one, am at the end of my rope when it comes to supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way being blown up by the same bombs day after day. That is absurd. It may even be criminal. I cannot support that any more. I believe we need to figure out not just how to leave Iraq but how to fight the War on Terror and to do it right.” (Part of the speech you made on the Senate floor)

These are the very sentiments of the majority of Americans and Oregonians. We now come to your office to ask that you stop all support for this war. Americans want this madness to end and your words indicate that you share that vision. We want you to vote “No” on all future appropriations that come before the Senate concerning the continuation of this war/occupation of Iraq.

We further ask, as your constituents, you meet with and endorse the efforts of the groups who will visit your office during the coming weeks before the military authorization bill comes before the Congress in February.

You have the lives of present and future soldiers in your hands; we ask that you do everything in your power to rescue them from this ongoing insanity. There is no victory for President Bush; there is only more and more slaughter of the innocent.

Today we will stay until you or your representative answers our requests.


Sincerely,

Joe Walsh Troy Horton


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Apparently he did not read the letter because when 1700 (5PM) came around he told us we had to leave without answering our request in writing---we refused to leave. There was some confusion as what to do next. The staff wanted to go home and we wanted to stay to get an answer to our letter. Security was called and asked us to leave, we said no because we did not get an answer to our question. Security called the PD and we all waited. When the police arrived, they seemed upset that we had taken them away from arresting the bad guys---to deal with this sit in. We told the police that we would be willing to accept a written statement from a representative of Sen. Smith saying that he would not vote for any future funding of the war or occupation of Iraq. Stand off.

The police did not want to arrest us; the staff member did not want to arrest us but told us that he was generous to us allowing us to sit in the office for the afternoon. I was upset by this and said that was a condescending statement saying he allowed us to sit in “OUR” Senator’s office. We were taken out of the office without being handcuffed or searched. We were led to a police car and told that we were going to be issued a citation and charged with criminal trespass and would have to appear in Circuit Court of the State of Oregon for Multnomah County on 26 February. We were released with a handshake and left custody in good stead. Troy and I went and enjoyed a cup of coffee and talked about what we did. Our position is that we want to be on record that Bush is not acting in our name. I truly believe that if the German people had done in 1936 what we did today World War 2 might not have happened. There comes a time that those who can must stand up, say “NO” loud, and clear.

Everyone involved acted with professionalism and we were grateful for that experience. There is some interesting news; Sen. Smith has now come out against the escalation of the war. Bush likes to say 20,000+ more troops is a surge---more BS.

My next personal protest will be in front of Sen. Wyden’s office next Thursday during lunch time saying:

Investigation
Impeachment
Indictment
Incarceration

Nothing less!!!!!!!

In peace and hope

Joe Walsh------Lone Vet

Good man Joe!

WE HAVE BEEN ATTACKED SINCE 9/11

Almost everyday I hear some NeoCon or a supporter of the Bush madness say something like, “We have not been attacked since 9/11 and that shows that Bush is doing a good job.” I have to take deep breaths and say calming things under my breath in order not to throw something. We have been attacked again and again but not by al Qaeda.


We have been attacked by our own government in every way you can imagine, in our homes---in our churches---in our privacy---in our souls. The Bush administration has tortured, murdered and caused the rest of the world to wonder what terrible mental disease has struck the United States of America. This new illness should be called “Mental Syphilis.” The Bill of Rights is now just a piece of paper, and Bush likes to make paper planes out of a copy of the Constitution. Wars and more wars!

There are now so many spy agencies that they spy on themselves for weeks before they know that they are spying on spies. We have the FBI, NAS, IRS, HOMELAND NUTS, DOD, NIS, MILITARY INTEL, CIA, CID, and these are off the top of my head---there are lots more. We are a country under siege but not from al Qaeda.

Have you wondered why al Qaeda has not committed another attack on our cities? The first question you should ask yourself is, can they?

Our borders are wide open, according to Lou Dobbs and others, people are coming across at unprecedented rates. Al Qaeda is aware of this route and what about just coming in as a tourist or a student----easy. You do know that when you fly your baggage is searched but everything else in the storage part of the plane is not searched or screened---al Qaeda knows this by now. So why haven’t they attacked us?

The first attack on the towers in New York took place in 1993, the next attack came in 2001, eight years later. This is not a group who is interested in taking out a bus or train in the US, they want something bigger than 9/11---and that should scare the hell out of all of us. That is why the 9/11 Commission recommended so many changes in the way we do things; Bush said no---not needed. The Democratic Congress is moving as fast as they can to implement all of the Commission recommendations, and that is a good first step. This is five years after 9/11---Are we safer?

So, all you people who think that BushCo is making your life safer---think again. Unless we find some way of understanding what is happening in the world, we will suffer attacks by people who feel that we treat them with contempt. Bush and many of our State Dept. people as late as last year could not tell you the difference between Shiites and Sunni. We are being led by the worst kind of loons---dumb loons.

Just imagine a President who stands before the American people and the rest of the world and says, “We went into Iraq because we thought they were going to attack us---we were wrong. We went into Iraq because the people of Iraq wanted to have a chance at democracy, we were wrong. We went into Iraq with the intentions of solving the Middle East problems, naive and wrong. We tried but failed to free Iraq we now ask the world to help us put Iraq back together. As an act of good faith, we will stop all construction on permanent bases, embassies, or any other plan that even looks like we want to stay. We will and have cancelled all deals made by Mr. Brenner or any representatives of the United States. We will, after our troops are withdrawn in the next few months, make war reparations to the government of Iraq. The government of Iraq should be what the people want and not what outsiders demand. We will work with all those countries who want to see a strong and independent Iraq. This is only the first part of a series of events that will happen in the near future. Gitmo will be closed and all prisoners be given a fair trial or released as soon as possible, the International Red Cross will be given this task and our military who control all camps will be removed and replaced with human rights agencies. We will call for a regional summit to resolve problems about borders and other grievances outstanding to this day.””

Now can you, in your most optimistic moment, imagine Bush or Cheney saying anything close to this?

Bush’s answer to any problem is to kill it, maybe that is why we had a bug man in charge of the House before 2006. Bush and Cheney should go the way of the bug man---go away and be tried for their crimes.

In peace and hope,

Joe----Lone Vet
Portland, Or.


Investigation--Impeachment--Indictment--Incarceration