New Britain Herald - February 25, 2007
By Jeff Mill, Herald Press Staff
NEW BRITAIN - More than 80 people crowded into the Cooper Hall meeting room behind South Church Saturday afternoon to demand an immediate end to the Iraq war, and no to a war with Iran.
The meeting, organized by the local chapter of COW (Connecticut Opposes the War), was one of a series of similar meetings scheduled in cities and towns across the state, including Bristol and Middletown.
The meeting discussed what steps to take to compel Congress to end the war immediately. Also discussed were plans for a rally at the Old State House on March 17, the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the war.
It may have been cold outside, but inside, the room was heated by the passion of dozens of like-minded residents who oppose the war.
Several local and state politicians, including House Majority Leader Rep. Chris Donovan, were on hand. But Liz Aaronsohn, who teaches education at Central Connecticut State University, was more impressed by what she called "ordinary people...from all walks of life" who came to voice their opposition to the war.
"If there was a real reason to protect our country, these are the people who would be doing it," the slight, petite Aaronsohn said.
But, "This country was not invaded by Iraq, and it was not invaded by Iran," Aaronsohn said. "It was invaded by the Bush administration."
"This shows the huge ground swell' of opposition to the war, Aaronsohn said. She favors the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and reallocating the money being spent on the war to be spent on war veterans instead.
Various speakers attacked the war for its impact at home aboard, for the toll of American wounded and dead and the toll of Iraqi dead.
Bobby Sanchez, the administrator of social services for Head Start in the city, said absent the war, New Britain could receive as much as $140 million more in aid that could be used for Head Start programs.
Looming over the discussion was the shadow of what speaker after speaker warned was a possible impending war with Iran.
The administration has repeatedly said in recent weeks there are no plans to attack Iran. But both speakers and audience members repeatedly brought up the possibility.
Tim Swan, executive director of the Connecticut Citizen's Action Group, described the war in Iraq as "the biggest foreign policy calamity in the history of this country." But a war with Iran - and, by extension, Syria - would be "the biggest calamity in the history of humankind," he said.
Swan said there were important differences in the protest movement today and the one that protested the war in Vietnam 40 years ago.
This time, the anti-war movement "is real intergenerational," he said. Then, labor was more pro-war; that is far less true today, Swan said. Opposition today is "more mainstream" than it was in the 1960's he said.
"There is just a clear majority of people who are opposed to this war," Swan said, adding, "The last election should have been a really big wake-up call" to Congress.
Several speakers called upon Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman in particular to renounce the war. The mere mention of his name prompted some hissing.
David Pudlin of Newington brought an energy to match his passion, as he coaxed and cajoled the audience to work towards a large turnout at the March 17th rally.
Like Swan, Pudlin said the 2006 mid-term election should have served as a wake-up call to politicians. He said the antiwar tide had washed away every Republican congressman in New England except Fourth District U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays. "We decided to keep Chris Shays so our children would know what a Republican looked like," Pudlin joked. But he was not joking when he said, "It's not enough to say you are against the war," Pudlin said. "You have an obligation to end it."
There is no justification for continuing the war, he insisted. "One more death - Iraqi or American - is intolerable."
Every day the war continues, Pudlin said, "just tells me I'm not doing enough" to bring about its end. And yet, he said, he remains hopeful. "I don't make plans for more than a month ahead," Pudlin said, so sure is he the war will finally end.
