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IndianaGreen (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Sat Aug-25-07 07:34 PM Original message |
Report on Senator Evan Bayh's meeting with antiwar activists on August 21, 2007 |
This first hand account came from an e-mail from the Michiana Peace and Justice Coalition. It is a long, but very informative e-mail (such as Bayh's apparent ignorance of House Judiciary Committee’s Democratic Staff Report setting a prima facie case that the Administration broke at least 7 international and federal laws in taking us to war).
REDACTIONS: I redacted the last names of participants, and other personal information. Here is the e-mail: From notes by Nick E**** Senator Evan Bayh’s Long Awaited Meeting with Constituents Peace and anti war groups from Indiana have been actively trying to meet with our junior senator Democrat Evan Bayh for two years and on August 21, 2007 in Crown Point, IN it finally happened. Northwest Indiana Code Pink and Northwest Indiana Coalition Against the Iraq War sponsored the meeting with the Senator on August 21. Brief Background In September of 2005 about 15 peace and anti war activists met with Senator Lugar on the Monday after the massive Saturday anti war rally. Of course our Congressman Pete Visclosky has met numerous times with the peace and anti war community. We had tried to schedule a meeting with Senator Bayh weeks in advance of this and were told that he would be unavailable, but that staff would meet with us. After meeting with his staff we requested a personal meeting whenever he came back to Indiana, at any location. Again in 2006 activists going to Washington for the huge march tried to synchronize a meeting while they were in D.C., but to no avail. Again they asked for a meeting whenever he returned to the state. Locally a group of about 12 met with local State Director David R**** in his Hammond office and foreign policy advisor Todd R**** via a conference call. We were thankful for the meeting, but again asked that the Senator meet with the Indiana peace and anti war community whenever he returns to the state. Again no answer and no meeting. When the President announced his escalation of the war with his “surge” policy, Sue E**** of Highland and Nina K**** of Lake Village members of the new Northwest Indiana Code Pink chapter took it upon themselves to schedule a meeting. When unable to schedule a meeting, they organized a demonstration on May 5, 2007 outside the Hammond Federal Building, where the Senator has a local office. Sue left the protest just before the building was due to close and went inside the building to the Senator’s office. Only one other person was allowed by the Federal marshals and Homeland Security guarding the building to accompany her inside. She chose a newspaper reporter. Sue knelt at his locked office door and proceeded to read the names of the soldiers killed in the President’s surge. She was arrested for failing to follow directions. She was later arraigned in Hammond and a trial was set for the end of August. She could have faced a year in jail and a $5,000 fine, but the prosecutor did not ask for jail time. As she was preparing for trial and a possible conviction and loss of $5,000, the government dropped their case. During this time between arrest and the coming trial, Sue and Nina scheduled two separate meetings in Crown Point with Senator Bayh. They were both cancelled by the Senator. One because he had to stay in Washington to vote on the Immigration Bill and I’m not sure of the other reason for the other cancellation. Finally the August 21 meeting was agreed on. The Senator’s staff was more comfortable with written questions so that was agreed on. We had planned a rally for 4PM outside the Crown Point Government Center where the meeting was to take place at 5PM. We had been told that we could only have 50 people present. The time was changed twice in the last couple of days. We were instructed to come into the building at 4PM, with only our driver’s license and keys. It took several phone calls for the Senator’s staff to say it would be OK if we came in armed with a pen and paper for notes. We were not allowed to bring in wallets, purses or even a bottle of water. Even with these obstacles an estimated 40-50 brave souls from around the state came, from Hammond, Munster, Crown Point, Merrillville, Gary, Dune Acres, Ogden Dunes, Highland, Lake Station, Hobart, Valparaiso in NW Indiana and Indianapolis, South Bend, Mishawaka West Lafayette, Frankfort, Goshen, Bloomington and Nashville statewide. Lake County is the second largest county in the state of Indiana and the Senator and his staff had the county offices closed ½ hour early at 4PM on the day of the meeting to either protect the county workers from the peace advocates or the peace advocates from the county workers or perhaps both from the Senator and his staff or vice versa. Normal security at this building is you walk through a metal detector. Those of us choosing to enter the building early and use the restrooms experienced this level of security. However, when we all entered the building for the meeting a little later after the workers had safely escaped, we first went through another scanning machine, then a guard used a wand on us, then through the metal detector and then with our driver’s license we were allowed a badge to get access to the meeting room if we were on a prearranged list of attendees submitted in advance. A 15 year old boy with his father was denied entry because he did not have a driver’s license and school hadn’t started so he didn’t have a school ID. Also several people who arrived after our group entered because they had just gotten off work were not allowed to enter the building and attend the meeting In spite of all this security a few people ended up with bottles of water in the meeting room. These were taken by security when discovered. A humorous aside, just before the Senator walked into the room an aide put a bottle of water on the table for him. Several of those assembled who had had their water confiscated objected and the Senator’s bottle was removed before he entered. The Meeting Senator Bayh shook hands with those of us in the front row and others who got up to do so. Ten year old Ashley B**** of Highland, IN whose father is currently serving his second tour in Iraq asked the first question. “Since the war was over 4 years ago, why are we still in Iraq?’ Senator Bayh answered that we should start leaving and told us about his support for bills calling for us to do that, but that the President hasn’t agreed to go along with any sort of a withdrawal. Sue E**** of Highland, IN asked the next question. She referred to the Sunday Op-Ed piece in the NYT “The War as We Saw It” http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/opinion/19jayamaha.html?_r=4&pagewanted=2& oref=slogin authored by seven soldiers currently serving in Iraq and asked for a comment. “In the end, we need to recognize that our presence may have released Iraqis from the grip of a tyrant, but that it has also robbed them of their self-respect. They will soon realize that the best way of regain dignity is to call us what we are—an army of occupation—and force our withdrawal. Until that happens, it would be prudent for us to increasingly let Iraqis take center stage in all matters, to come up with a nuanced policy in which we assist them from the margins but let them resolve their differences as they see fit. This suggestion is not meant to be defeatist, but rather to highlight our pursuit of incompatible policies to absurd ends without recognizing the incongruities.” Bayh’s response focused in large part on the need to extricate ourselves from Iraq because we were in the midst of a civil war and the Iraqis have shown no movement toward political reconciliation. He also talked about the political realities here and the need to get more Republican senators to come over to join the Democrats in voting to start withdrawing troops. He thought that in March more Republicans would come over. At Sue’s request he graciously agreed to another meeting with us in Lake Country in six months time. The format for the event called for written questions to be submitted and they were then asked by Karen K**** of Munster, IN who tried to combine the most asked questions and also asked follow up questions. Karen did a great job. But pinning down an accomplished politician who has served as Secretary of State, Governor and U.S. Senator is no easy task. In Senator Bayh’s defense, I believe he did try to be candid with us. He just isn’t on the same page as we are. A personal opinion, after meeting with two U.S. senators and one congressman, I believe that the great majority of serious peace activists have much more knowledge than their representatives on the how we got into Iraq, the lies involved, the loss of civil liberties in the U.S., the Bush Administration’s Unitary Executive policy, possible war with Iran, U.S. torture of prisoners, Depleted Uranium and the proposed Iraq Oil Law. I didn’t take voluminous notes and I hope I am being fair to the Senator in this account. In response to several questions from Karen, Senator Bayh talked about • The case for WMDs turning out to be false even though he believed in it at the time • Maybe democracy is a “bridge too far” for Iraq at the present time • Much talk about the Iraqis not reconciling politically • We should begin withdrawal now, but he is not willing to at the present time stand up to the President who is the Commander in Chief and stop funding for the occupation • Stopping the funding would deny our troops the new vehicles etc. which make them safer • Insurgency is app. 2% al Qaeda and foreign fighters. The rest are Iraqis • Bush has allowed Ossama bin Ladin to dictate our policy by saying that Iraq is central front in war. Of course Bush has said the same thing • He called for Rumsfeld’s resignation long ago (app. two years) • He made a big deal out of saying that he may not run for reelection in 2010 when his term is up. It is no secret that he wants to be Hillary’s running mate in 2008 He mentioned many times the fact that the Iraqis were not doing the political work necessary for democracy which would allow us to leave. He did not address the tremendous stress we have placed upon them with the estimated 1 million dead, 4 million displaced etc. Audience Gets Involved Everybody wanted to do it and finally somebody did. After going along with the format given to us and witnessing the Senator’s adroit handling of the questions, one brave man Eric M**** of Frankfort, IN spoke up from the audience and asked the Senator a direct question. “General Sanchez a couple of months ago said in a speech in San Antonio that the only way we could even salvage a stalemate in Iraq was with 200,000-300,000 troops for another 10 years. Why is this receiving no attention?” It was a great question and I must confess I don’t remember his answer, but it was more tap dancing. To the Senator’s credit he then answered questions from the audience even though his staff wanted him to go back to the written ones. With that precedent set Lori P**** from the Indianapolis area, representing National Code Pink, asked about impeachment. Again more tap dancing. He compared it to Clinton’s impeachment and how it would hurt the party and turn off this vast middle section of voters. Finally I could restrain myself no longer and asked about the necessity to return to the rule of law by impeaching the President and Vice President. I mentioned the House Judiciary Committee’s Democratic Staff Report which stated there is a prima facie case that the Administration broke at least 7 international and federal laws in taking us to war. He seemed unaware of this report and said something about Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Leahy not citing lawbreaking. I told him it was the House Judiciary Committee. More talk of Clinton and losing the vast center of voters. I mentioned that impeachment proceedings could be an opportunity for the President to clear his good name since his approval ratings reflect that the vast majority of the American People don’t believe him. Either he broke the law or he didn’t and both his detractors and supporters are due an investigation and honest answer. The Senator did remark that clearing his good name would be a novel way look at impeachment. Then he went back to Clinton saying that his ratings went up during impeachment. I wished I had a chance to respond to that. The proper way to approach the vast middle of voters Bayh kept referring to is through the impeachment process. It would give the President a chance to clear his good name in addition to giving the American People the truth. I don’t see how that would turn off this vast middle of voters he kept talking about. Actually if we were to follow the Senator’s reasoning that impeachment would hurt the Democrats and help the Republicans, the Republicans should and would welcome impeachment hearings. Northwest Indiana Coalition Against the Iraq War Co-chair Jim S**** asked if we could expect to hear the Senator speak more publicly against the war. Bayh remarked that wasn’t his style and he didn’t want to be seen as a “gasbag” senator speaking to an empty room in the Senate. Imagine a U.S. Senator not wanting to address the issue or our time publicly, because he might be seen as a “gasbag”. Just ending the insanity one day earlier than whenever it finally does end, will probably save the lives of several U.S. troops and hundreds of Iraqis. Christina G**** of Bloomington, IN then spoke up and told the Senator that she wanted to set the record straight that the majority of attacks by Iraqis were not against each other but against the U.S. occupation troops that have no business there. It was at this point I think that Bayh addressed different people having different plans for how many troops to withdraw and when. He then made the statement that nobody is calling for all our troops to be withdrawn. We need to protect the embassy and leave troops to deal with al Qaeda. He mentioned even his friend and colleague Senator Russ Feingold is not calling for immediate withdrawal of all troops. I think he has it in his mind that Feingold is the most liberal guy in the country, perhaps, because he is one of the most liberal guys in the Senate. The opinion of the vast unwashed majority of U.S. citizens counts for little in this club. Helen B**** of Dune Acres, IN then asked again about impeachment saying that it was cartoonish to compare Clinton’s impeachment to impeaching Bush and Cheney. Again more tap dancing and no answer of substance. The aides had been telling him for some time that the time was up and they had to get going and that was the last question. Every time we meet with a senator or representative, it’s the same story, aides saying he has to go and usually, as in this case the personage stays for a few more questions from the commoners. Anyway, I was upset that my written question didn’t get a chance to be asked by Karen and no one thought to ask it when democracy somewhat took over and we started asking live questions. Then a brave voice in the audience asked him about the Iraq Oil Law. He was already moving to the door and he asked Kathy S**** of Merrillville, IN to walk out with him and he would answer her question on the way out. I hurried over to hear what I could of his answer and he seemed completely unaware that the required benchmark law calls for control of 80% of known Iraq oil fields and 100% of future fields to be given to the international oil companies for a 12 ½ % royalty fee. I found this answer particularly unsatisfying since I have sent his office more than 25 articles on the subject including Dennis Kucinich’s hour long speech given on the House floor with all reference material included. Local newspaper articles which have absolutely none of the above information in them. Here are the links NW IN Times http://www.nwitimes.com/articles/2007/08/22/news/lake_county/doc9fcfa85a1ba3 30ac8625733f000c0937.tx NWI Post-Tribune http://www.post-trib.com/news/520023,bayh.article After the meeting we held a rally on the front steps of the government building. Dale K**** led us in song and the following people spoke Jim S****, NWICAIW co-chair on the Coalition’s considerable activities Lorri C**** on the Coalition’s entry in the Valparaiso Popcorn Parade Kathy L****, Military Families Speak Out, on being a mother of a marine Timothy B**** on the Declaration of Peace Sheila R**** on Indiana Peace and Justice Network Christine G**** on the Iraq War Nick E**** on the meeting and impeachment Lori P**** on National Code Pink activities Tony S**** on the Fall Mobilization Nick E**** Munster, Indiana ****@sbcglobal.net Ellyn *************************************************************************** Michiana Peace and Justice Coalition website: http://community.michiana.org/justice/ |
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panader0 (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Sat Aug-25-07 07:49 PM Response to Original message |
1. Good work! Well-organized, Thanks for your effort. |
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Mojorabbit (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Sat Aug-25-07 09:08 PM Response to Original message |
2. Great work! |
over and over again I hear the same thing.. that our congressmen are not particularly well informed and I find it disenheartening.
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IndianaGreen (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Sat Aug-25-07 09:29 PM Response to Reply #2 |
3. The Beltway is a great echo chamber |
and they are really out of touch, plus they think they know what's best for us. How else can you explain their ignoring the tens of thousands of calls, telegrams, letters, e-mails, and constituent visits in which they were warned about going to war against Iraq.
:eyes: |
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