of the Ellison vote

Ellison signs death warrant

by Chante Wolf

Seen at a March 18 antiwar protest. (Photo by Chante Wolf)

On Friday, March 23—Keith Ellison, who was elected mainly due to his pledge to vote for no further occupation funding— joined other Democrats in signing the Pelosi bill. This Veterans' Health and Iraq Accountability supplemental funding request would give $124 billion dollars in funding for the occupation of Iraq, while weakly calling for gradual troop withdrawal by 2008. It passed the House of Representatives by a slim margin with some strong dissenting voices like Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Rep. Lynn Woolsley (D-CA).

In David Swanson's pre-vote critique in Harper's Magazine, he states, "The supplemental spending bill proposed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi funds the war. It: gives Cheney and Bush roughly another $100 billion. And you can be quite sure they will spend it as they choose, which may include attacking Iran. In fact, a measure in the bill requiring Bush to get Congress's approval before attacking Iran (an attack that would violate the U.S. Constitution and the U.N. Charter) has been removed. The bill also requires Iraq to turn much of its oil profits over to foreign corporations. This illegally rewards the Bush and Cheney gang for their illegal war."

A recent statement released by Rep. Ellison defends his vote: "This vote, plain and simple, comes down to ending the war—or not. I believe this bill is a vote to end this war. It is not the bill I would have written. From the beginning of my campaign, my position was out of Iraq—now. But let us not confuse our goals with our methods. This is the first piece of legislation that actually puts timetables on ending this senseless involvement in Iraq. It is the best vehicle we have before us to end the war."

Ellison, who attended and spoke at the March 18 antiwar rally, has been adamantly against the war from the beginning and supports immediate withdrawal from Iraq. In fact many of the pro-peace people I know voted for him because of this commitment. In fact, activist Charley Underwood, who campaigned long' and hard for the congressman, wrote an apology to Ellison's constituents whom he had lobbied hard for their votes (and also received an award last month from the DFL State Central Committee as best volunteer in the 5th Congressional District due to his work on Ellison's campaign):

"Keith was a reliable peace candidate, it seemed. He had been there for years at the marches and rallies and meetings. He had formally taken the Peace First pledge to vote for no further occupation funding. Even last Sunday as he appeared as the principal speaker in the march of thousands on the 4th anniversary of the war, we knew that he was one of us. During the last year, we responded to his consistent antiwar message by providing the very backbone of his campaign; it is unlikely that he would have been elected without the deep and generous support of the peace community.

"So we trusted Keith to keep the most central promise of his campaign: to vote to de-fund this evil war. We trusted him, but we were mistaken. To those who responded to my own appeals for your time and energies, I offer my sincere apology. It was never my intention to mislead you."

Did Representative Ellison not catch the troops presenting their disgust for staying in Iraq when they presented their Appeal for Redress, signed by over 1,200 active duty members? Did Representative Ellison forget that another year would bring untold numbers of murdered Iraqi civilians and the grueling deaths of American troops and agonizing wounds of many, many more? Have our paid employees forgotten the lies that got us into Iraq in the first place—no weapons of mass destruction, no connection to Al Qaeda, no connection to 9-11whom he had lobbied hard for their votes (and also received an award last month from the DFL State Central Committee as best volunteer in the 5th Congressional District due to his work on Ellison's campaign):

"Keith was a reliable peace candidate, it seemed. He had been there for years at the marches and rallies and meetings. He had formally taken the Peace First pledge to vote for no further occupation funding. Even last Sunday as he appeared as the principal speaker in the march of thousands on the 4th anniversary of the war, we knew that he was one of us. During the last year, we responded to his consistent antiwar message by providing the very backbone of his campaign; it is unlikely that he would have been elected without the deep and generous support of the peace community. "So we trusted Keith to keep the most central promise of his campaign: to vote to de-fund this evil war. We trusted him, but we were mistaken.

Have they simply missed the fact that we have committed an act of naked aggression by invading an unarmed country and shocking and aweing the rest of the world with our murderous intentions to take their,oil and line corporate pockets that include the pockets of Bush and Cheney?

Of course the bill is threatened to be vetoed by President Bush—and White House spokesman, Tony Snow quipped, "You've got to ask yourself, why go through this long, drawn-out exercise of going and wheeling and cajoling and trying to buy votes within your own party when, in fact, you know it's not going to go anywhere ... the need for funding the troops is urgent."

And once again, "support the troops" is used to lobby for some kind of twisted sentiment by the Republican machine. Again the troops are used like rag dolls in the mouths of frothing beasts as they pull and fight for leftover remains of their carcasses. That, of course, is after they are kicked out on the streets due to budget cuts and privatization of the VA.

On Tuesday, March 27, antiwar activists staged a sit-in at Rep. Keith Ellison's office to voice opposition to Ellison's recent vote.