I'm so proud of Houston! Sheila Jackson Lee hosted an amazing Town Hall Meeting last night, followed by a candle light vigil and prayer. My estimate is that there were about 300 people there.
Sheila received the first of many standing ovations when she came in.
First she introduced Jeff Norman of US Tour of Duty. Please visit their web site and support them. After reminding us that Camp Casey isn't about Cindy Sheehan, it's about a lot of families and veterans who have questions, he showed a video of Dolores Kesterson describing her unsatisfactory meeting with President Bush. You can watch the video online at http://www.ustourofduty.org/ as well as the next video of Gold Star dad Bill Mitchell and Veterans For Peace's Tim Goodrich attempting to confront Tommy Franks following his appearance at an elementary school in California.
Then Cindy called. She told us that the vigil at Camp Casey will help "bring our troops home way faster than they would have if we didn't come here August 6."
Mel Goodman, a former CIA agent who left the government after 42 years of service spoke and showed a portion of the DVD "Uncovered - The Whole Truth About the Iraq War." The turning point for his was the October 2002 when the intelligence community gave up the good fight. National Intelligence Estimate provided to the Senate. According to Mel, the justification it provided for war against Iraq was a total fabrication. He lamented the corruption of Colin Powell and pointed out that every assertion in the basis for war was false. Regime change has always made bad situations worse (1953 Iran, 1973 Chile and of course Vietnam).
Then Joan Baez called. She sang Let Nobody Turn Me Around while Sheila's staff passed out comment forms for her to take back to Congress. Then we all joined Joan to sing America the Beautiful.
Amy Alison a veteran who achieved Conscientious Objector status spoke next. She advises other military personnel seeking CO status and told us of a soldier she is advising who's contract was almost up until it was extended for 30 years.
Next was Dr. Sanders Anderson, an associate professor at the Mickey Leland - Barbara Jordan School of Pubic Affairs and Vietnam veteran.
Gold Star Mom Nadia McCaffery followed. She is a native of France who has been actively opposing the war since she lost her son. She has traveled to Jordan and met with relatives of Iraq's fallen and was in Fallujah during the American attack. She's featured in the film Fallujah - Caught in the Crossfire.
Chas Davis, a conscientious objector spoke and reminded us about the tragic impact of depleted uranium used in weapons on both Iraqi's and US personnel. He described basic training as a sort of brainwashing that dehumanizes the way the troops think of Iraqi citizens - reducing them to the status of a piece of paper that needs to be destroyed.
Next was our own local Gold Star mom - Amy Branham. She spoke eloquently about the loss of her son, and the lies of the Bush Administration. Amy has honored us with comments on this blog and I hope she continues to do so. I told her how much we appreciate her input.
After a question and answer period, we all went outside for a candlelight prayer. We stood on the sidewalk singing Singing for Our Lives.
See you in Crawford tomorrow.
Cross posted at houstondemocrats.com
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