|
Hunger For Justice
By Mike Ferner
03/13/06 "ICH" -- -- Washington, March 13 -- Last Wednesday evening,
the House Appropriations Committee voted to throw another
$67,000,000,000 at the murderous work in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The killing will proceed as planned, with no congressional
intervention, although chances are you heard absolutely zip about
the 67 Billion Dollar Question, thanks to the Guardians of Reality
who insured the news from that hearing was the Dubai Port deal, not
the unimaginable sum of our money Congress voted for war, nor the
voices raised against it.
That news must come from places like the internet site you’re now
reading, not the corporate press. And I’m here to tell you the
story.
More than an hour before the start of the hearing on the
"supplemental" spending bill for the war, five of us from
Voices for Creative Nonviolence’s
"Winter of Our Discontent" campaign lined up outside the
Appropriations Committee Hearing Room in the Rayburn House Office
Building. Ed Kinane, Cynthia Banas, Lorie Blanding, Jeff Leys, and
yours truly were prepared to shine a light of reality, however
briefly, into one of Disneyland’s darkest corners. Two of our crew
had banners that said, "STOP THE KILLING," ready to open them when
we began, in turn, to read names of U.S. soldiers and Iraqis killed
in the war.
We’d been in line early enough to be among the first 15 people
admitted, but by the time the hearing room was changed from it’s
assigned grand room to a much smaller venue, 60-plus
representatives, their staffs, AND a few dozen lobbyist-regulars
were shown in, the general public was shown an overflow room a few
doors away.
Moments after entering the overflow, we realized we’d just been cut
out of the actual hearings and would not be able to say what we had
prepared. We regrouped in the hallway outside of where the hearing
had just begun.
Three members of the D.C. Antiwar Network, Malachy Kilbride, Pete
Perry, and David Barrows reacted to the switcheroo faster than we
did. They barged into the hearing room, forcefully told the Members
of Congress they all had the war’s blood on their hands, and got
promptly ejected by the Sergeant at Arms deputies.
Fortuitously, a couple minutes later, my hometown Congressperson and
Appropriations Committee member from Toledo, Marcy Kaptur (D-OH),
arrived. I greeted her and we chatted briefly, and then she asked if
I was going to attend the hearing.
"No, it seems to be pretty filled up with staff and lobbyists," I
replied.
Walking up to the Sergeant of Arms guarding the double doors, she
informed him she wanted to find a seat for her constituent. What was
I to do but go in and take what seemed to be the last chair in the
room?
By then, Committee Chair Jerry (not the one they love in France)
Lewis (R-CA), had opened the first agenda item, an amendment to
prevent the administration from completing its plans to hand over
operations at a strategically located Middle Eastern port to a
Dubai-run company. Discussion was lively, including one comment from
Rep. Jim Moran (D–VA), who, trying to slow the rush to snub Dubai,
actually said, "If we want to Americanize and Westernize the Arab
world," the U.S. needs to continue doing business with nations like
Dubai that are "run by a staunchly pro-American, pro-business
person."
At this time, a goodly number of reporters were attentively in
attendance. I was, unfortunately, about to make a serious mistake in
activist judgment.
As the only one of our merry band able to get into the hearing, I
knew I’d be flying solo at my first Congressional testimony, and
decided to wait until the hearing progressed beyond the amendments,
to the $67 Billion war appropriation itself.
My heart sank as I watched half the reporters abandon ship right
after the Dubai Port amendment sailed through. A second amendment
quickly passed. A few more reporters left. Then Lewis announced a
recess so members could return to the House floor for a series of
votes.
Not wanting to relinquish my serendipitously-won seat, I stayed put,
surprised in a few minutes as Ed Kinane slipped through the relaxed
security at the door. We quickly exchanged notes, decided we’d stay
until the committee reconvened, and then watched as a half-dozen
Capitol Police appeared. The stage was set.
The committee returned about an hour later, sans TV cameras, photogs
or any reporters as best I could tell. Luckily, the one cameraperson
operating the video unit on a tripod was back at his post – for
about 5 minutes – until he began breaking down his equipment. As
innocuously as possible, I zipped over to what I learned was no less
than the network pool camera operator, and whispered to him he may
want to stick around a bit.
"Why, is there going to be a protest," he asked loudly enough for
the immediate world to hear?
"Yes, there is," I replied, not knowing why I bothered whispering
again.
"Well, we saw the one already," he returned, "and besides, the
networks said we can call it a day."
Nothing else I said would deter him so I returned to my seat.
Hoping that C-Span might still record our protest, I sat for a short
while longer near Ed who noted that his own representative, James
Walsh (R-NY), had just risen to offer an amendment. Walsh wanted to
shift some Veterans Administration funds from future hospital
construction to ongoing operational needs. The Congressman who, like
the vast majority of his colleagues consistently voted to fund the
war, wanted to be sure the hospitals could keep up with the results.
No one wanted to oppose that idea, especially when it didn’t require
any new money. Walsh’s amendment passed quickly. Although it looked
like I’d be speaking only to those in the hearing room, there would
never be better timing. I rose to my feet, wearing a Navy pea coat
with my third class Petty Officer insignia, and my
Veterans For Peace cap.
"My name is Mike Ferner, from Ohio. I served as a Navy Hospital
Corpsman during the Viet Nam war," I began, "And if you really want
to do something about the numbers of wounded and disabled veterans
coming back to our VA hospitals, the best thing you can do is STOP
THIS WAR!"
Introducing Ed as he scrambled to unfold the banner, I told a
now-attentive Appropriations Committee that we were on day 22 of a
34-day fast against the war, and that "…speaking for the majority of
Americans who are now against this war, we say, STOP THE KILLING!"
"Listen to just a few names of the victims of our government’s war,"
I demanded, and was able to announce two Marines, Daniel Bubb, 19,
and Christopher Poston, 20, and two Iraqi citizens, Ahmed Khalaf,
and Hamza Khuzai, before two Capitol Police officers grabbed me and
ripped the paper out of my hands.
Refusing to go quietly into the night as I was hustled from the
chamber, I looked several representatives in the eye and said,
"Those are the names of dead veterans from this war. You are
violating international laws…you are committing war cri…" and then
it was face down on the hallway floor.
Next came the traditional "up against the wall" routine for
handcuffing, and we began the trip to the Capitol Police booking
facility. On the way out of the Rayburn Building, we passed a couple
very posh dinners held in different hearing rooms. As I nodded and
said hello to the food service workers in the hallway, I was glad
I’d asked my arresting officer to leave my VFP cap on my head.
We were charged with disrupting a Congressional committee hearing
and cited into D.C. Superior Court on March 28. The Capitol cops
relieved us of belts, money, I.D., shoelaces, everything in our
pockets, and took us to D.C. city jail for electronic fingerprinting
and face scanning. After those pleasantries, the D.C. cops drove us
about four blocks from the police station to a corner somewhere in
the district around 2:00 a.m.
I bummed 50 cents from a passing cop for a pay phone call so we
could contact our support team, Carmelite Sister Maureen Foltz, and
my wife, Sue Carter, who plucked the two of us off the street.
Ed and I were assigned a court date only eight days after the
scheduled end of our fast on March 20, so we’ve decided not to incur
the additional expense of going home to Syracuse and Toledo
respectively, and stay in Washington.
And – you heard it here first – we also decided to extend the fast
until March 28 for a total of 42 days.
But PLEASE do us a favor: if you’re thinking of a "thank you" or
some other gracious response, DON’T. We don’t need your thanks. The
Iraqi people and our soldiers need your action to stop this damnable
war. Think about it and determine one big step you can take that’s
more than anything you’ve yet done. Do it right there, in your
hometown, before Ed and I go to court on March 28. Before the full
House and Senate vote $67,000,000,000 more for the war. Get your
friends together and sit-in at your local congressional offices.
Demand they STOP THE KILLING.
Then we can thank you.
In addition to fasting with Voices for Creative Nonviolence,
Ferner is a freelance
writer. His book based on trips to Iraq before and after the U.S.
invasion, "Inside the Red Zone: A Veteran For Peace Reports from
Iraq" is due out in August.
Click below to read or post comment's on this article
(In accordance with Title 17
U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to
those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information for research and educational purposes.
Information Clearing House has no affiliation whatsoever with the
originator of this article nor is Information ClearingHouse
endorsed or sponsored by the originator.) |
