Here's my vote that she's wearing the Obama campaign logo.

It does look true! The ad had a woman wearing a Barack Obama shirt!

What exactly is the solution to the problems Iraq will have to face if we leave too quickly? Has this group ever addressed that at all?

It is easy to be against war but harder to be able to make peace.

Making peace is easy. Stop fighting. The nation of Iraq does not want us there. Yes they will have problems but like any other nation after a revolution (albeit this one engineered by us) they will work it out on there own in a way that works best for them. If they want to be an Islamic based state so be it. It is the right of every sovereign nation to choose it's own destiny free of military occupation and oppression. If you think were not oppressing them just think how you would fee if an army were in Ventura County imposing curfews, sanctions, travel restrictions, and occasionally accidentally shooting or otherwise killing innocent people while in pursuit of the "bad guy" who happens to look just like everybody else and holds the same views as most of the country but is willing to die for his people's freedom from tyranny. Or I'm sorry am I supposed to continue to pretend that this nation can do no wrong and of course Iraq is just bad and can't do it on there own, etc. I must have forgotten that after my friends died in a country we never should have been in in the first place.

Support resistance. IVAW.org

- Secretary, Iraq Veterans Against the War - Ventura Chapter

Making peace is easy. Stop fighting. The nation of Iraq does not want us there. Yes they will have problems but like any other nation after a revolution (albeit this one engineered by us) they will work it out on there own in a way that works best for them. If they want to be an Islamic based state so be it. It is the right of every sovereign nation to choose it's own destiny free of military occupation and oppression. If you think were not oppressing them just think how you would fee if an army were in Ventura County imposing curfews, sanctions, travel restrictions, and occasionally accidentally shooting or otherwise killing innocent people while in pursuit of the "bad guy" who happens to look just like everybody else and holds the same views as most of the country but is willing to die for his people's freedom from tyranny. Or I'm sorry am I supposed to continue to pretend that this nation can do no wrong and of course Iraq is just bad and can't do it on there own, etc. I must have forgotten that after my friends died in a country we never should have been in in the first place.

Support resistance. IVAW.org

- Secretary, Iraq Veterans Against the War - Ventura Chapter

http://www.PSLweb.org/site/PageServer?pagename=iraq

Eight civilians killed by U.S. airstrikes

Friday, May 30, 2008
By: Stefanie Fisher

In brief

On the evening of May 21, an attack by two U.S. helicopters left eight Iraqi civilians dead, including two children, in the northern Iraqi town of Baiji.

The U.S. military has admitted responsibility for the killings. Using typical colonial double-speak, a U.S. military spokesperson said that though the children’s death were "unfortunate," they were in the car with "know terrorists."

Witnesses have told a different story, reporting that the family was attempting to flee the attack in their car when the helicopters fired. Iraqi police said that when they arrived at the location of the attack, they found that the family had been unarmed. There were also reports that the bodies were burned, torn apart and mutilated.

Only when all troops are pulled out of Iraq and the brutal occupation of the country ends will such crimes against the people of Iraq stop.

Ventura County Stop the War had a very good turn-out at Sunset Cafe for the "Soliders Speak Out" film screening on Friday. We had approximately 35 people in attendance which is close to capacity at the Cafe.

For those who are interested in our work, and the multitude of projects that many different Peace groups are involved with, please check out our blogspot:

vcstopthewar.blogspot.com, where we have links to various community organizations.

I would like to address a posting I saw here dated May 29th, which asks:

"What exactly is the solution to the problems Iraq will have to face if we leave too quickly? Has this group ever addressed that at all?

It is easy to be against war but harder to be able to make peace".

Yes, VCSTW does address this issue, here is a blurb from our info pamplhet:

"A 90% drop in violence was reported when the British Military withdrew its forces from the southern city of Basra. Alot of the violence is perpetrated by occupation forces, from torture to air strikes, from door-to-door random killings....A majority of violence attributed to "insurgents" is directed at the U.S. occupation. Ending the occupation would end the violence against it. Sectartian attacks are on the rise. Sectarians take advantage of the occupation chaos in order to carry out their assaults, so it is very likely this form of violence would be reduced by a withdrawal of all foreign troops."

Here is another blurb from our pamphlet:

"The year 2007 was the deadliest for U.S. caualities since the beginning of the occupation in March of 2003. Most of the touted success in lowering violence was from bribes paid to Sunni insurgents not to attack the occupation forces. Yet still an estimated 1 MILLION Iraquis have died, and 4 MILLION are refugees."

I want readers to re-read the last sentence. Are these deaths, injuries (hard to estimate) and forced exile due to terrorists in Iraq?. No...mostly from our bombs, our bullets, our destruction of the CIVILIAN infrastructure. (hospitals, water treatments plants, etc..)and the use of DEPLETED URANIUM, which is what we do with our nuclear waste. It is HIGHLY radioactive material with a shelf life of 2.5 BILLION years, and it is all over Iraq, and coming home with the troops - its genetically transferred.

Some veterans and their families have decided to not have children for this very reason. The results from depleted uranium exposure is so severe that those born with it in their systems (Iraqi and U.S. babies) do not even look human. (no brain, 1 eye, no limbs, etc.) There is indisputble evidence of this, yet every one is in denial. Just like with Agent Orange in Vietnam. The list is very long about what Americans are in denial about.

So, what is the solution?. To STOP what I consider to be genocide. The estimate of 1 million dead Iraquis is since 2003; not includng Gulf War 1 and the 12 years of bombing and use of depleted uranium between 1991 and 2003

Since the carpet bombing of "Shock N' Awe" to date, the estimate of 1 MILLION dead Iraqi's is only an estimate because "we don't do body counts". (Unless Americans of course).

A majority of the dead Iraqis are CIVILIANS, and at least a quarter of civilian casualties in Iraq have been women and children. So - we kill,maim,and displace millions..MILLIONS of Iraquis to get rid of Sadam, and bring democracy to Iraq? Oh yea...wheres Bin Laden?

When other countries do this sort of thing, such as in Rwanda, the U.S. decries it as "Genocide" and inhumane. When the U.S. does it, then its about "bringing democracy". What hipocracy.
Its all about the Oil, and control. Always has been, always will be.

So, the idea that our occupation of Iraq has, or will EVER lower "violence" is ludicrous. We've CREATED the violence, more terrorists and terrorism, and we need to leave and start making reperations. What is "too quickly" for getting the troops out of there? No matter what you do, the last to go might be in more danger because of less numbers to "protect themselves"

I'd imagine if troops stopped invading homes, stopped having "check-points" on every other corner, stopped torturing people, closed Guantanamo and the many other "detention" camps, and paid back the Billions of "missing assets" to Iraq we might not be attacked. Ya THINK?

And if not, then we could have "Blackwater" Corporate mercenaries stay on and protect any remaining U.S. "assets". I'm sure they would volunteer for the job since they make around $650 a day, and seem immune to prosecution of any kind for murdering civilians.

Listen to the real news like "Democracy Now" on KPFK radio (90.7 FM) 9am mon-fri. (www.kpfk.org) if you want to know what is really going on in Iraq, or anywhere else for that matter.

Check out: www.iraqbodycount.org

Who is the most antiwar of all the congressional candidates? Besides in their own promotions of their own campaign who has done the most to bring more attention to ending the war locally?

I guess congratulations are in order, Elton. You've certainly done it again.