Download PDF of this full issue: v35n2.pdf (18.1 MB)

From the National Office

By Barry Romo

Well, it's déjà vu all over again. Thirty-three years ago, who would have thought Nixon would be out of office before his second term was up? His was a landslide re-election; he had great poll numbers; he seemed competent; and he had a brain.

Barry Romo on Memorial Day, Chicago, 2005

Baby Bush barely won reelection (51% is no landslide), but he has Congress. He too has a brain, but it's named Karl Rove, and this "brain" may be indicted for outing a CIA agent.

Bush has no poll numbers. He is incompetent, and his administration is padded with more cronies than President Harding's. And Congress? Well, the possible trials (DeLay, Frist) are the light at the end of the tunnel.

On top of this, the blood of our young continues to drip day after day, and our national treasure is given away to corporate friends. At least Nixon put his tail between his legs and got our troops out of Vietnam after his re-election.

So it looks like we can just sit back and watch merrily as the Bush administration and his party and the Right go down in flames, laughing all the way, right? Uh...no. We have to continue to push and push hard at every level. VVAW should lay out its call in actions on Veterans Day and Memorial Day.

We should push locally for resolutions for immediate withdrawal from Iraq. For those who say "We can't—we need a plan," just remind them that the Pentagon has plans for everything, from invading Iran to the Vatican, to pulling out of Korea, to Iraq. Just do it. No more blood or insanity.

We must also demand decent benefits for Iraq vets, especially in relation to depleted uranium (DU) poisoning. VVAW played a role in passing such legislation in Louisiana, and we are moving in Illinois, where it will pass. We should take this up state by state.

Nationally, we have to keep up the heat through our local organizing. Make noise and bring new people into the movement, always remembering that 10% of folks are coming to their first event.

Finally, there is you, the person reading this paper. If you are not yet a member of VVAW, you should join right now by filling out the form in the back of this paper or by going to our website. If you are already a member, join with others to form a VVAW chapter in your area.

Remember that VVAW will be forty years old in eighteen months, and we are planning to have a great reunion! We must always be ready to celebrate, even in the midst of serious struggle.