Four years ago today President Bush ordered the US invasion of Iraq, and thus began one of the ugliest chapters of American history. While Fox News and right-wing blogs such as Politically Incorrect celebrate the ongoing killing , most Americans are subdued as they contemplate the immense damage this war has caused at home and abroad. American sentiment has turned against President Bush and against the war, but this anti-war mood has not resulted in the massive demonstrations that we had during the Vietnam War era. Adrienne Woltersdorf, writing in taz, critizes the US anti-war movement for lacking "vision":
Die Wut über gefallene Söhne und Ehemänner ist groß. Aber da es selbst von den bereits heftig wahlkämpfenden Präsidentschaftskandidaten wie Hilary Clinton und Barak Obama noch keinerlei praktikable Ideen gibt, wie es weitergehen soll mit dem Irak, ist die kritische Hälfte der USA eben etwas kleinlaut geblieben. Diese allgemeine Visionslosigkeit ist schließlich der Hauptgrund dafür, warum die meisten Friedensfreunde dann auch lieber zu Hause bleiben, statt zu TV-gerechten Aktionen in die ferne Hauptstadt zu fahren.
First of all, the "kritische Haelfte" (critical half) is more like the "critical two-thirds". And I’m not sure that the massive demos of the past are the correct model for current anti-war activism today. Today, the movement is more diffused, and more localized. The activism can be found in thousands of blogs and thousands of letters appearing in local newspapers. There are town meetings taking place now across New England, for example, which have resulted in legislation at the state level to restrict the use of the National Guard in deployment abroad. The energy is being channeled into getting anti-war representatives elected at the state and national level. The election of last November was a success in that respect, and the results can be seen in the new oversight exercised by Congress in the conduct and funding of the war. The House of Representatives has had the first debate in four years on the war, and this week the Democrats are passing a resolution to withdraw US troops from Iraq. That would have been impossible just 6 months ago. Now anti-war activism is focused on retaking the White House in 2008; I have experienced the energy and commitment myself in local efforts on behalf of the presidential campaign of Barack Obama.
So don’t measure the effectiveness of the US anti-war movement by the numbers of protesters on the Washington Mall. Look for the cumulative effect of thousands of small, focused efforts that have finally put the Bush administration and its Republican war enthusiasts on the defensive for the first time since the 2003 invasion.
