Tom Hayden

Tom Hayden spoke recently at an Out of Iraq meeting.

Their (our fearless leader's) agenda seems to resemble that of the Johnson and Nixon Administrations of old, which was, according to the Pentagon Papers, to remove “the issue of Vietnam from domestic political contention.” Back in those days, the US stopped bombing North Vietnam above the tentieth parallel “while dropping a higher total tonnage that before”. [see Ellsberg, p. 227]
And so the Bush Administration is creating credible rumors of significant though partial troop withdrawals, while intensifying the air war and use of death squads against the Iraqis who resist the occupation. They hope to take the war off television, and change the color of the casualties.
Our challenge is to resist these attempts to render the war invisible. We do that by applying people pressure to the pillars of the power and policy.

A while later Hayden reported on suggestions he heard during a recent trip to Jordan.

- the immediate inclusion of opposition voices in the discussion of how to reform the constitution.
- A US timetable for troop withdrawals, as recently announced by the Arab League conference in Cairo.
- Formation of a transitional caretaker government including the opposition as well as the current parties in power.
- A deadline for new and inclusive elections to an independent parliament.
- A peacekeeping force, under the UN and Arab League, composed of troops from nations not involved in the occupation – from France and Germany to Pakistan and Algeria.
- Renewed economic reconstruction under Iraqi sovereignty, instead of the neo-liberal elimination of all subsidies for necessities. This venture would include contracts with qualified American contractors who have supported the occupation. We don’t want to drink our oil, the Iraqis said, we want to sell it on the market.
- Restoration of most, not all, of the former Iraqi army to insure stability and protection in Sunni areas and parts of Baghdad.
My source made two other significant points. The first was that the majority of insurgent factions recognize the existence of the US as a superpower with economic interests and a stake in an orderly honorable troop withdrawal. The second was that once the end of occupation is negotiated politically, the al-Zarqawi group of foreign fighters will shrink and disappear, or be defeated within six months.
While in Amman, I also spoke with Prince Hassan, who said it is “time to change course” through a “sustained process of dialogue and negotiations to turn the rhetoric of Cairo into reality.”
So far the Administration has resisted these peace overtures, and the Democratic leadership has ignored them.

But the majority of the American people are starting to have their voices heard. Politicians - take heed or move aside.