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Street heat can be as powerful now as it was in the 1960s. But it alone can't do the job. Now as then there has to be an "insider-outsider" strategy built around a critical mass. In this case we need progressives in Congress (some 70 members of the Progressive Caucus), even state and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Foreign Policy in Focus 2007, p.N_A
Main Authors: Raskin, Marcus, Spero, Robert
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
Bill of Rights-US
Democracy
Foreign policy
National security
Terrorism
War
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Street heat can be as powerful now as it was in the 1960s. But it alone can't do the job. Now as then there has to be an "insider-outsider" strategy built around a critical mass. In this case we need progressives in Congress (some 70 members of the Progressive Caucus), even state and local officials, and continuous, sustained action among individual citizens and citizen groups. Progressives must produce: drumbeats of calls and letters supporting or disagreeing with elected representatives; joining organizations supporting one's views on ending the war and restoring our freedoms; posting those views on blogs; and noting where those freedoms have suffered since September 11. Americans who do the fighting learn that the U.S. has no coherent military strategy. Iraqis, except for Kurds, have made clear that they want the United States to leave. The thousands of dead and wounded Americans, as well as the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi casualties, are a grim testimony that the United States will not be able to train an independent military and police constabulary-just as it was unable to do in South Vietnam. Clearly, the war has not made Iraq more secure, despite all of Washington's propaganda, blasphemous talk of God's mission, and errors from hubris and ignorance. For example, after the invasion, the [Bush] administration disbanded the Iraqi army and police. Then Bush wanted to restore the army and police, but it was too late. Now they are riddled with dissent, turned against each other and against us. Net effect: we are arming the Iraqi civil war we helped foment and now can't control. We have failed in helping the Iraqis rebuild their infrastructure, an obligation under the U.N. mandate as the occupying power.
ISSN:1524-1939