| Patricia Brooks, went on a hunger
strike last week. Patricia is a 68 year old poet and grandmother who
decided she needs to take a stronger action than waving signs on the
highway. She has been on a water fast since Mon 9/11.
PATRICIA BROOKS’ STATEMENT:
To Whom It May Concern:
I am beginning a hunger strike Monday, Sept. 11, 2006, in an effort
to stir more of our citizens to inform themselves and give serious
thought to all the information that has come to light since that
day five years ago, about this administration, its tactics and its
purposes.
All reasonable minds must accept by now that this administration
lied to us, the U.N., and the world, about Iraq having WMD and complicity
in the 9/11 events. What we should also know is that the doctrine
of preemptive strikes, even the invasion of Iraq specifically, was
first conceived in the 1990s, by those in the first Bush administration
-- Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, and Paul Wolfowitz. The ultimate stated
goal: "global dominance." That plan, which found favor
with Bush Sr., was leaked to The New York Times in 1992 as the Defense
Planning Strategy for the 1990s. And after the Clinton interim,
those same men were appointed by Bush Jr. (or was it the other way
around?) to have their fingers on the proverbial buttons. And Donald
Rumsfeld's name was put at the top of the list. His addition: the
concept of preemtive strikes with nuclear weapons! (See the Oct.
'02 article in Harper's magazine, titled "Dick Cheney's Song
of America" by David Armstrong, an investigative reporter for
the National Security News Service.)
This is just one of the basic facts Americans need to know about
their 'leaders', to disillusion themselves that these current strategies
have anything whatsoever to do with 9/11 and the immediate re-labeling
of those same tactics and objectives as "the war on terror."
I will turn 68 in less than a month, and have tried all the ways
I know -- vigils, demonstrations, forums and films -- to inform
people what is really happening in and to our country. But it seems
we Americans are too comfortable to put a stop to what is being
done in our name. Perhaps putting my health in jeopardy may at least
give people pause and spark some to inform themselves and ACT to
stop this administration before it spills even more blood and wreaks
even more havoc around the globe. I plan to eat no food and drink
only water until I can be assured that there will be no more troops
sent to Iraq and there is a definite timetable, within six months,
to bring those who are there back to their families. Alive. I am
asking my Washington Senator, Patty Murray, to be my eyes and ears
in D.C., to know whether and when there is a firm plan to send no
more troops to Iraq and a timetable for bringing all of them home.
I want to see Congress pushing much harder for that timetable, and
want to see our people begin to demand that that timid Congress
begin to enact proceedings for the impeachment of this entire administration.
The impeachment of Bush only would be irrelevant; he is not making
the strategies and holding the reins. Cheney is the one at the helm
and the first one we need to evict from the powers of government.
After all, he has, as you will read in the article above, formed
his plan for "global dominance" sixteen years ago now.
And the terrible havoc we have wrought in Iraq is being no deterrent;
there is already the demonizing of Iran and Syria in preparation
for toppling those governments as well, and establishing permanent
bases there to secure our oil interests and influence in the entire
Middle East.
I am haunted by the words of two professional Iraqi women, both
anti-Saddam. The first was interviewed shortly after our invasion,
and soberly warned us to leave immediately. "I know my people,"
she said, "and they will not stand for an occupation."
The second was interviewed more recently -- in secret, of course,
because her family would be killed for speaking to Americans --
"You have destroyed our country, and are only making things
worse for us. So please, just leave us to our misery."
Patricia Brooks
Coupeville, Washington
pbrooks@whidbey.net
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