Members of the Kenmore Council of Move On held a peace rally outside of Representative Jay Inslee’s office Aug. 16 to present him with a report of how much the war in Iraq has cost residents residing in his district.
“We have until September to keep Congress from reauthorizing the war,” peace rally host Kathy Lillie said.
They also stood out there because Move On members felt it was their last chance to get out of the war before the next presidential election
“I’ve been really active against the Iraq war since day one,” said Jeff Paulson, co-host of the peace rally.
Move On’s report lists ways the $1.45 billion spent on the war in Iraq could have been allocated in King, Kitsap and Snohomish counties.
According to the report, the money could have funded health care coverage for 218,593 people, 258,981 college scholarships and renewable electricity for 1,294,265 homes if it weren’t for the war in Iraq.
Lillie feels the money that’s been spent on the war in Iraq should be spent to improve schools and healthcare in the United States, and she speculates her two young grandchildren will be paying off the nation’s debt.
“I’m doing what I can to leave a clean government for my grandsons,” she said.
Paulson shares a similar concern for the future.
“I have a big stake at not presenting this to the next generation,” he said.
Move On is a grass roots organization and works with other local groups who share the common goal of regaining peace and holding the administration accountable. It was through working with other groups and word of mouth that the organization, Washington for Impeachment heard about Move On’s peace rally. When they showed an interest in attending the rally, Move On members weren’t thrilled.
Members like Paulson didn’t oppose the impeachment group’s message, but worried their message would upstage Move On’s purpose for the rally.
“A lot of us Move On group members want to do an impeachment,” Lillie said.
However the plan was to focus only on the increasing cost of the war and to present Inslee with the figures of how much the war has cost his constituents during the peace rally.
Lillie said members of Washington for Impeachment tagged along despite being asked by Move On members the day before not to come.
“They felt their message was so important they had to use our strength,” she said.
Prior to the peace rally, Lillie was considering teaming up with the impeachment group to organize future rallies and protests. But after they ignored Move On’s request, she’s having second thoughts.
“I agree with their message but it wasn’t the way to treat potential allies,” she said.
Members of Washington for Impeachment arrived with red and navy blue signs that called on people to support Dennis Kucinich’s (D-Ohio) bill, H.R. 333 to impeach Vice-President Dick Cheney.
“We have to impeach Cheney to get out of Iraq,” member Rebecca Wolfe said.
Like Move On, members of the impeachment group were there to attract Inslee’s attention. But their goal was to influence the representative to consider impeachment rather than costs of war.
“Jay Inslee is in defiance of all of his legislative districts that have passed resolutions to impeach,” said Linda Boyd, director of foreign impeachment for Washington for Impeachment.
Members feel Inslee is dragging his heels and needs to realize people in his district want an impeachment.
“We must impeach Cheney swiftly before the U.S. attacks Iran,” Boyd said.
Inslee wasn’t in his office the day of the peace rally. Instead, his aide, Patrick Hogan, stepped outside to acknowledge the event.
Boyd seemed disappointed with Hogan for not stepping into the political ring.
“He said ‘I’m just here to listen today’ and then he departed,” Boyd said. “He didn’t make a comment on anything.”
But Move On members were less critical of Hogan, who accepted their report on behalf of Inslee.
“He had no reason to prepare a response for Jay Inslee,” Lillie said. “He only had an instant to react.”
According to Inslee’s district director, Sharmila Swenson, Hogan was under the impression that only a peace rally was occurring outside. When he was asked questions regarding impeachment, Hogan felt talking about impeachment would shift the focus of the meeting in a different direction which would’ve been unfair to Move On members. Plus, he was invited to attend the rally as a guest and wasn’t expected to speak at the event.
“He didn’t think it was appropriate to interject what Move On was protesting about,” she said.
Possibly the least aggressive person at the peace rally was O’Kelly McCluskey.
The World War II veteran is the director of Virtual United States Peace Academy (VusPA), an online academy modeled after West Point and the Naval Academy.
“We train in the arts of peace,” he said. “I’m trying to have my youngest grandson become a graduate.”
McCluskey feels all the funds allocated to the war in Iraq should’ve been used on his peace academy where he teaches students to become anti-war activists.
“The peace activists are actually educated on the subject,” he said. “Our job is to lead by example and teach.”
According to McCluskey, the women’s rights and homosexual movements in the past were organized by assertive people.
“All of that is a result of getting out in the streets,” he said.
He hopes more people will become activists and passive people will realize they have the power to protest for what they believe in, and for what they don’t.
“I’m 80 and I’ve got lots of illnesses,” he said. “But I’m 80 and I’m here.”
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