February 22, 2006

By EMILY PAGE
Contributing Writer

Bringing the troops home, ending the war, and holding the Bush Administration accountable for the invasion were the key planks in “Operation Homecoming: Brave Troops, Foolish Leaders,” one of more than 100 Out of Iraq day events scheduled across the country as a prelude to National Call-In Day on Accountability on Mon., Jan. 9.

Bill Moyer of the Backbone Campaign, who introduced Saturday’s event with Judith Shattuck of Progressive Democrats of America, told the crowd that the troops in Iraq “are not the ones making the policies. Foolish leaders are making the policies,” said Moyer.

Jim McDermott, a U.S. congressman representing Washington State’s 7th district, was the first of five speakers. McDermott referred to the war as “a symptom of a much bigger problem.” He called for the U.S. to develop two exit strategies: one for getting out of the war with Iraq and one for getting back to democracy and civil liberties.

The crowd also heard from Bert Sacks, an activist who was fined $10,000 by the U.S. Treasury Department for delivering $40,000 worth of medicine to Iraq in the late 1990s. Sacks told the crowd, “The task we have is more than simply getting Bush out of office.” Sacks illustrated his point with video footage from the early 1990s that alleged a connection between the U.S. presence in Iraq since 1990 and an increased volume of child deaths in Iraq.

U.S. Representative Jay Inslee of the 1st Congressional District spoke third, saying that America will demonstrate great strength in bringing the troops home.

Stacy Banneram, of Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), received a standing ovation for her simple and articulate message. Banneram responded to George W. Bush’s call to the American people to support the troops. “Sending our loved ones to fight and die for a lie is not supporting the troops,” she said.

Finally, fellow MFSO member Judy Linehan spoke. Linehan, who recently returned from a peace conference in London, said “There are people like [those who came to the Operation Homecoming event] who have a thirst for the truth in every village in this world.”

Following the speeches, the Backbone Campaign entertained the crowd with a few minutes of political theater. Breakout groups allowed the crowd and the speakers to discuss topics ranging from public action and lobbying to anticipating and meeting the needs of veterans.

In an effort to hold the media accountable for its coverage, the remaining crowd marched on the headquarters of KOMO Channel 4, an ABC station, and KIRO Channel 7, affiliated with NBC. Moyer said that the crowd delivered petitions to the TV stations, asking them to recognize the “misleading” nature of their coverage leading up to and during the war and urging the stations to be more critical of the Bush Administration in the future.

According to Moyer, a media monitoring campaign is in the works to critically analyze the coverage of Seattle’s four major TV stations in the months before their Federal Communications Commission broadcasting licenses are renewed.