Fri Feb 10 2012
Departments
War

"Funding the war is killing the troops": interrupting the empire 30 seconds at a time
by Mike Ferner
September 26, 2007

The massive U.S. Capitol Building is situated to dominate Washington, D.C. from every angle.  Its brightly lit facade dominates the night skyline even more. 

Inside, a first time visitor is at least impressed if not overwhelmed, waiting to enter the House or Senate gallery.  A mural entirely dominating one stairwell titled, “Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way,” depicts heroic, windswept pioneer families cresting a mountain pass.  Dark, formal portraits of the icons of American history look down from within ornate, gold frames.  The illuminated words of founding fathers inscribed on marble walls fairly shout hosannas to liberty, freedom and democracy.  By the time a visitor approaches the final security checkpoint immediately outside the gallery itself, mere mortals about to view the workings of the gods are properly awed; particularly if they've read the back of their gallery pass which states:
    Rules of the Gallery Nothing may be taken into the Galleries other than articles of clothing and handbags.
    Guests must remain seated and refrain from reading, writing, smoking, eating, drinking, applauding or picture taking.
    Front railing must be kept clear of all objects and guests must not lean on railings.
    Appropriate hats may be worn by gentlemen for religious purposes only.
    Any disturbance or infraction of these rules is justification for expulsion from the Galleries.
    The Sergeant at Arms
  Such was the setting on September 20, 2007, when Linda Wiener, Leah Bolger and I walked into the gallery overlooking a session of the U.S. House of Representatives. 

In large letters our banner read, “FUNDING THE WAR IS KILLING OUR TROOPS” and it had a fine pedigree – only hours before it was a tablecloth at the trendy Washington Chop House where a sympathetic busboy donated it to the cause.  Neatly folded and tucked into my pants, it made it past every security check except the last, electronic one which beeped at the cell phone I’d forgotten in my pocket.  It seemed fitting that a banner with such a prestigious past should hang momentarily from the balcony of the House gallery, but such was not to be.  

We were seated in a coveted first row, immediately behind the balcony railing, prepared to send our message at least verbally.  Below us, the Acting Speaker of the House was conducting a vote described on a small, electronic scoreboard only as "On the previous question."  Voting consisted of a surprisingly raucous, undisciplined period when members walked around and talked loudly with their colleagues.  To the untrained eye it appeared entirely chaotic.  We waited for two such votes on equally mysterious questions and decided to do our presentation over the noise and bustle below. 

I put on my blue garrison cap with white letters spelling "Veterans For Peace," and stood up with Linda.  In unison, we said loudly and clearly, "Congress!  Congress!  Funding the war is killing our troops.  Please stop."  About half the members on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives stopped talking and turned to look.  We were able to repeat our message a couple more times before the Acting Speaker pounded a gavel and said the magic words to the Sergeant-at-Arms and Capitol Hill Police: "Restore order!"  Within seconds I felt a strong hand on my arm and heard a voice say, "Sir, come with me!"  We accepted his invitation but continued delivering our message on the way out and in the hallway where we were quickly handcuffed and propelled towards the elevator.         

After a 30-hour twilight of custody by the Capitol Police, D.C. Metropolitan Police, and finally U.S. Marshals, I appeared before the judge in D.C. Superior Court for less than five minutes.  My attorney, a third-year law student from the Georgetown Law Clinic successfully rebuffed the prosecutor’s request that I be given a “stay away” order preventing me from stepping foot in the several Congressional Office Buildings, the Capitol, and sundry bits of property adjacent to them all.  I was told to return for a “status hearing” on October 30th, and released on my own recognizance. 

That jail experience, although relatively short, was degrading as all jail experiences are intended to be.  Going back to Washington D.C. for a status hearing and again for a trial is costly and inconvenient.  But let’s face it.  Many, many people in social justice movements before us have paid much more dearly than we’re asked to.  For the most part, peace protesters these days aren’t being clubbed mercilessly, or disappeared into a gulag of prisons, or tortured when we’re arrested.  We’re not yet under martial law, subject to being swept off the streets at a whim, nor are we being gunned down for protesting.  That’s why it is so very important that we step forward now, before things get that bad, and demand an end to this war and justice for Iraqis and our returning troops.  

Officer Wilson of the Capitol Police, whom I've gotten to know after a couple trips through his booking facility, asked, "Is it worth it?  You know you're not going to stop the war."  I have to admit that just that morning on my way to the Capitol I considered saying "the hell with it" and going home.  I had just been arrested September 15th with 200 others on the grounds of the Capitol.  I knew this next arrest would entail an overnight stay in the D.C. Metro Police lockup and more trips to Washington for court appearances.  One more arrest wasn't going to end the war.  But I thought of the absolute hell experienced by the people of Iraq and the relative hell experienced by our soldiers occupying them; of the physical and mental anguishes they suffer and will continue to suffer for years to come; of the culpability I share in this criminal war.  The logic seemed simple and clear to me: this was something I could do, therefore I must do it.  In trying to end this war using nonviolence, such actions are among the most significant a person can take.  So I answered Officer Wilson, “Yes, it’s worth it,” and tried unsuccessfully to explain my position to someone with a very different view of the world. 

Later, I learned that on the day Linda spoke out and were arrested, 36 activists were arrested elsewhere in the Capitol Building, doing a die-in and reading the names of people killed in the war as a tour group of students watched.

From that one day’s experience, imagine what would happen if we decided to educate Congress with a variety of short speeches four times a day, for four days a week, for two weeks.  That would take just 32 people; 64 people could keep it going for a month.  Then, the next time 100,000 people come to D.C. for a demonstration and 5,000 of them do a die-in, what would happen if they were prepared to stay there indefinitely…and got on their phones to tell their friends to join them…and within days we had several times that number filling the streets, filling the jails?  Now that actually begins to stop business as usual in Washington. 

We can do it; therefore we must!

---
Ferner is a member of Veterans For Peace and an independent journalist from Ohio.


Recent War Articles

Pentagon cover up: 15,000 or more US deaths in Iraq war?
  December 17, 2007
  Mike Whitney

Iraq's million
  December 6, 2007
  Robert C. Koehler

Talking with two who walk the walk
  November 29, 2007
  David Swanson

Baghdad in middle America
  November 15, 2007
  Robert C. Koehler

Understanding the next war money vote
  November 10, 2007
  David Swanson

Jonesborough justice
  October 31, 2007
  David Swanson

Ann Wright’s conscience: former colonel and diplomat against Iraq war
  October 29, 2007
  Seth Sandronsky

Open letter to the government from an AWOL soldier
  October 21, 2007
  James Circello, Iraq Veterans Against The War

Constitution, flag, and leaving Iraq
  October 7, 2007
  David Swanson

Whistleblowers on tape
  September 30, 2007
  David Swanson

Observing our government through Blackwater
  September 26, 2007
  David Swanson

"Funding the war is killing the troops": interrupting the empire 30 seconds at a time
  September 26, 2007
  Mike Ferner

We have nothing but fear itself
  September 24, 2007
  David Swanson

Sanity in tiny nibbles
  September 21, 2007
  Robert C. Koehler

Can we talk? Day one of IVAW's "Truth in Recruiting" campaign
  September 20, 2007
  Mike Ferner

New day in the anti-war movement?
  September 19, 2007
  Mike Ferner

Bush’s fake sheik whacked: the Surge and the Al Qaeda bunny
  September 18, 2007
  Greg Palast

Iraq: the people's report
  September 11, 2007
  Sue Udry

Questions for General Petraeus
  September 10, 2007
  David Swanson

My son, back from Iraq, lives on tower on National Mall
  September 1, 2007
  Mary Hanna

Creative destruction
  August 16, 2007
  Robert C. Koehler

300 towns, cities, states oppose Iraq occupation
  August 1, 2007
  David Swanson

Reparations
  July 30, 2007
  David Swanson

Democrats as Leviathan: another step toward war with Iran
  July 23, 2007
  Joshua Frank

We will sit in for impeachment
  July 5, 2007
  David Swanson

Gorilla suit
  July 3, 2007
  Robert C. Koehler

Peace movement comes to US Social Forum
  June 29, 2007
  David Swanson

The hearts of all sane men
  June 21, 2007
  Robert C. Koehler

Belief and doubt
  June 15, 2007
  Robert C. Koehler

Sen. Clinton wants troops in Iraq for at least 10 years
  June 13, 2007
  David Swanson

This is not a story about Cindy Sheehan
  June 5, 2007
  Sunsara Taylor

The holy occupation of Iraq
  May 29, 2007
  David Swanson

Why I voted "no"
  May 27, 2007
  Sen. Barbara Boxer

For five years we've called it blood for oil
  May 16, 2007
  David Swanson

Collateral genocide
  May 12, 2007
  Mike Ferner

Please don’t throw me in that veto patch
  May 7, 2007
  Mike Ferner

Anti-U.S. uproar sweeps Italy
  May 5, 2007
  David Swanson

Knee-deep blood in the land of make-believe
  April 26, 2007
  Carla Binion

Tax day protests and refusing to pay for war
  April 16, 2007
  Ruth Benn

You can't hurt a troop by defunding a war
  April 12, 2007
  David Swanson

Iraq veterans speak in Columbus, OH 3-17-07
  April 11, 2007
  Veterans

Iraq @ 4: It's Not About the Troops - Either Way
  March 26, 2007
  David Caploe

Progressives stand strong against funding war
  March 23, 2007
  David Swanson

No mo money for war
  March 16, 2007
  David Swanson

Sacrificing our children on the altar of corporate greed
  March 15, 2007
  David E. Washburn

Only nonviolence will end the war
  March 14, 2007
  David Swanson

The war money can be stopped
  March 10, 2007
  David Swanson

How will you end this war?
  March 10, 2007
  Tina Richards

Congressman Obey says "Idiot Liberals" need to support war money
  March 9, 2007
  David Swanson

Former Pentagon staff speaks out on crimes of Doug Feith, Dick Cheney, and planning of Iran War
  March 6, 2007
  David Swanson

I'm more pro-troop than you are
  March 3, 2007
  David Swanson

Only nonviolence will end the war
  February 28, 2007
  David Swanson

Cindy Sheehan, George Will, and loving your enemies
  February 26, 2007
  David Swanson

No, seriously, why did we invade Iraq?
  February 22, 2007
  David E. Washburn

Lord knows we've suffered enough already: keep them out of Ohio!
  February 18, 2007
  Mike Ferner

Murtha only intends to undo the escalation
  February 17, 2007
  David Swanson

Shut up and stop the war
  February 14, 2007
  David Swanson

100 Senators quietly vote: majority oppose escalation
  February 10, 2007
  David Swanson

Dems change the gas and claim it's a new car
  February 9, 2007
  David Swanson

A world that works for everybody
  February 7, 2007
  Robert C. Koehler

D.C. demonstration
  January 30, 2007
  John Conyers, Jr.

How we can end the occupation of Iraq
  January 23, 2007
  David Swanson

Dear Mr. President: Send Even MORE Troops (and you go, too!) ...from Michael Moore
  January 22, 2007
  Michael Moore

The Kucinich Plan for Iraq
  January 17, 2007
  Dennis J. Kucinich

An Iraq jobs program?
  January 16, 2007
  Seth Sandronsky

Waist deep in the big muddy
  January 12, 2007
  Greg Palast

Out of Iraq and back to the American city
  January 11, 2007
  Dennis J. Kucinich

If not now, when?
  January 10, 2007
  Mike Ferner

Mr. President, surge this
  January 10, 2007
  David Swanson

3,000 lights delivered to Rep. Marcy Kaptur
  January 5, 2007
  Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition

3,000 lights for 3,000 killed in Iraq
  January 1, 2007
  Peggy Daly-Masternak




Read War Articles by Year:
2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000



FREE PRESS EMAIL UPDATE


Donate to The Free Press The Free Press Store

FOLLOW US ON
twitter
facebook


SEARCH THE FREEPRESS




1021 E. Broad St. Columbus, OH 43205 | 614.253.2571 | truth@freepress.org
All content © 1970-2012 The Columbus Free Press
Disclaimer