Report on our visit with an aide from
Dennis Hastert's office
8/13/02
Eight peace activists met with an aide from Dennis Hastert's office on
Tuesday, August 13th to ask the Speaker to oppose the impending war
against Iraq. We held a planning session a few days beforehand in which
we developed an outline of the points we intended to make. We each
took responsibility for preparing arguments related to that point. The
aide we met with was Brandon Grometer.
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We adopted a courteous tone, thanked Brandon for the meeting, and
assured him that we were practicing good citizenship by raising an
alarm about an issue of such essential moral and practical urgency as
the proposed war against Iraq.
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We began by making it clear that we represented more people than
just ourselves. In fact we represented peace groups from Kane, De
Kalb, and DuPage Counties, all in Hastert's district and that we also
networked with groups from Woodstock, Rockford,Oak Park and Chicago.
We had asked numerous friends and supporters to call Hastert's office on
that day and to say that they were aware of our visit and agreed with
our arguments. As far as we know several people did this.
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We pointed out that all the rationales which the Bush administration
had put forward for this war were so flimsy and insubstantial that they
did not hold up to examination. These include the weapons of mass
destruction argument, the link to Islamic terrorism argument, the
Saddam is an evil, undemocratic dictator argument, and the self-defense
argument. We put these weak arguments in contrast with the enormous
human cost of the war in Iraqi lives and American lives. We said we
were left wondering what was the real reason for the war and had
considered that it had something to do with Iraqi oil, or perhaps some
kind of family grudge match between Bush and Hussein.
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We addressed the amount of money the US spends for military defense,
now one Billion dollars per day, even without an additional war on
Iraq, and how much better it would be to spend some of that on schools,
health care, domestic infrastructure, and other social needs. We also
cited warnings by economists that the US economy could be hit hard by
the war itself and by oil shocks that arise from the political fallout.
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We addressed US unilateralism. That our allies do not support this
war; that it will cause further alienation in the Arab world; that it
will prove a great recruiting tool for Al Quida and other terrorist
groups; and that it will further destabilize the Middle East.
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We addressed the enormous suffering of the Iraqi people under the
sanctions and the outrageous injustice that represents. We pointed out
that if war comes, it will be the Iraqi people who do most of the
suffering and dying.
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One of our team, a local pastor, talked about moral and religious
objections to the war, and how several churches would oppose it.
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In response to Brandon's asking us what our solutions would be, we
addressed the need for the United States to drastically alter its
foreign policy, to obey and uphold international law, rather than defy
it, and to sign on to the ICC and other international treaties.
Mr. Grometer listened quietly and respectfully, took notes, and asked a
few questions. He appeared to take us seriously and to be in tune with
our values. We are skeptical, of course, that any of this will have
any impact on Speaker Hastert's position.
One important point: Brandon said that President Bush had not yet
consulted with Speaker Hastert about war on Iraq. Revealing! And
Disturbing! Just how small is the inner circle planning this war?
Our big mistake was that we forgot to ask for an opportunity to meet
with the Speaker himself. We have done that in a follow-up letter.
We were pleased to read a recent email that told of an Oak Park peace
group having a meeting on the same topic with a representative of
their congressman, Bill Lipinsky. Our positive fantasy is that all
across the nation, Congresspeople are getting the same message from
local peace groups.
If you have not yet made your call, please call Congressman Hastert's
office soon to tell him you oppose the proposed war against Iraq.
630-406-1114. Or fax him at 630-406-1808.